Jeremiah 23:1

Read in context

Jeremiah 23:1–3 · Berean Standard Bible

1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD.

2 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the LORD.

3 Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have banished them, and I will return them to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and multiply.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Study Jeremiah 23:1

Read the commentary on Jeremiah 23

Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Jeremiah 2:8

The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the leaders rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.

Jeremiah 2:26

As the thief is ashamed when he is caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced. They, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets

Ezekiel 13:3

This is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, yet have seen nothing.

Ezekiel 34:2

“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock?

Zechariah 11:17

Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered and his right eye utterly blinded!”

Matthew 23:13

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.

Matthew 23:15

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

Matthew 23:16

Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’

Matthew 23:17

You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes it sacred?

Matthew 23:18

And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.’

Matthew 23:19

You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes it sacred?

Matthew 23:20

So then, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.

Matthew 23:21

And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the One who dwells in it.

Matthew 23:22

And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the One who sits on it.

Matthew 23:23

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

Matthew 23:24

You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

Matthew 23:25

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

Matthew 23:26

Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well.

Matthew 23:27

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.

Matthew 23:28

In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

Matthew 23:29

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.

Luke 11:42

Woe to you Pharisees! You pay tithes of mint, rue, and every herb, but you disregard justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.

Luke 11:43

Woe to you Pharisees! You love the chief seats in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces.

Luke 11:44

Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without even noticing.”

Luke 11:45

One of the experts in the law told Him, “Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us as well.”

Luke 11:46

“Woe to you as well, experts in the law!” He replied. “You weigh men down with heavy burdens, but you yourselves will not lift a finger to lighten their load.

Luke 11:47

Woe to you! You build tombs for the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them.

Luke 11:48

So you are witnesses consenting to the deeds of your fathers: They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.

Luke 11:49

Because of this, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles; some of them they will kill and others they will persecute.’

Luke 11:50

As a result, this generation will be charged with the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the foundation of the world,

Luke 11:51

from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, all of it will be charged to this generation.

Luke 11:52

Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”

Jeremiah 23:2

Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:11

“For both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:12

“Therefore their path will become slick; they will be driven away into the darkness and fall into it. For I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:13

“Among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

Jeremiah 23:14

And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness. They are all like Sodom to Me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”

Jeremiah 23:15

Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says concerning the prophets: “I will feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.”

Jeremiah 10:21

For the shepherds have become senseless; they do not seek the LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.

Jeremiah 12:10

Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of ground. They have turned My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.

Jeremiah 22:22

The wind will drive away all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness.

Jeremiah 25:34

Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For the days of your slaughter have come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery.

Jeremiah 25:35

Flight will evade the shepherds, and escape will elude the leaders of the flock.

Jeremiah 25:36

Hear the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is destroying their pasture.

Jeremiah 50:6

My people are lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, causing them to roam the mountains. They have wandered from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place.

Isaiah 56:9

Come, all you beasts of the field; eat greedily, all you beasts of the forest.

Isaiah 56:10

Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.

Isaiah 56:11

Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain:

Isaiah 56:12

“Come, let me get the wine, let us imbibe the strong drink, and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!”

Ezekiel 22:25

The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her.

Ezekiel 22:26

Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

Ezekiel 22:27

Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.

Ezekiel 22:28

Her prophets whitewash these deeds by false visions and lying divinations, saying, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken.

Ezekiel 22:29

The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice.

Ezekiel 34:3

You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened sheep, but you do not feed the flock.

Ezekiel 34:4

You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bound up the injured, brought back the strays, or searched for the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty.

Ezekiel 34:5

They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild beasts.

Ezekiel 34:6

My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. They were scattered over the face of all the earth, with no one to search for them or seek them out.’

Ezekiel 34:7

Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:

Ezekiel 34:8

‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because My flock lacks a shepherd and has become prey and food for every wild beast, and because My shepherds did not search for My flock but fed themselves instead,

Ezekiel 34:9

therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD!’

Ezekiel 34:10

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand from them My flock and remove them from tending the flock, so that they can no longer feed themselves. For I will deliver My flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.’

Ezekiel 34:21

Since you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak ones with your horns until you have scattered them abroad,

Micah 3:11

Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster can come upon us.”

Micah 3:12

Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.

Zephaniah 3:3

Her princes are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, leaving nothing for the morning.

Zephaniah 3:4

Her prophets are reckless, faithless men. Her priests profane the sanctuary; they do violence to the law.

Zechariah 11:5

whose buyers slaughter them without remorse. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion on them.

Zechariah 11:6

For I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land, declares the LORD, but behold, I will cause each man to fall into the hands of his neighbor and his king, who will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from their hands.”

Zechariah 11:7

So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. Then I took for myself two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock.

Zechariah 11:15

And the LORD said to me: “Take up once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd.

Zechariah 11:16

For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will neither care for the lost, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken, nor sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the choice sheep and tear off their hooves.

Matthew 9:36

When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Matthew 15:14

Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness.

John 10:12

The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock.