Zechariah 11:16

cut off i.e. destroyed, or lost. See Zechariah 11:9, and comp. Exodus 23:23. "Pastores seduli requirunt siquid est perditum, vel siquid evanuit in grege: et hoc intelligit Zacharias per visitationem." Calvin.

the young one Rather, the scattered, lit. the dispersion, τὸ ἐσκορπισμένον, LXX. dispersum, Jerome.

feed that that standeth still Rather, nourish that that standeth (firm). τὸ ὁλόκληρον. LXX. that which is sound, R. V. Pusey compares the petition in the Litany, "that it may please Thee to strengthen such as do stand." Another view is that they that stand, are the sheep which stand still, unable through weakness and weariness to go forward. But the word seems always to be used of standing firmly, not of coming to a stand-still through infirmity.

claws Rather, hoofs. Like a voracious man, who not content with eating the flesh of the fat, tears to pieces and sucks the goodness out of the very hoofs. "Videtur diffringere ungulasesse hominis voracis, ipsas ungulas frangentis et exsudentis." Maurer. For a like picture both of neglect of duty and of cruelty in a shepherd see Ezekiel 34:4.