Jeremiah 23:2

feed Heb. shepherd.Cp. Jeremiah 3:15.

scattered by exile, voluntary or forced, in Egypt or Babylon.

driven them away the opposite of that which is an Eastern shepherd's duty, viz. to go before his flock, leading them to pasture or fold (Isaiah 40:11; John 10:3 f.).

visited … visit upon The twofold sense of the Hebrew word is kept up in the English. Because the shepherds have not visited their flock for good, they shall themselves be visited with punishment.

3, 4 are considered by Co., but quite needlessly, to reflect a position of affairs which was later than Jeremiah's date. The same critic, however, retains, though somewhat doubtfully, 7, 8, against which he might have brought the same objection. Moreover, the words "be fruitful and multiply" (see on Jeremiah 3:16) are not decisive against the genuineness of the v. here.