Jeremiah 25:35

And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:30-38 The Lord has just ground of controversy with every nation and every person; and he will execute judgment on all the wicked. Who can avoid trembling when God speaks in displeasure? The days are fully come; the time fixed in the Divine counsels, which will make the nations wholly desolate. The tender and delicate shall share the common calamity. Even those who used to live in peace, and did nothing to provoke, shall not escape. Blessed be God, there is a peaceable habitation above, for all the sons of peace. The Lord will preserve his church and all believers in all changes; for nothing can separate them from his love.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Principal of the flock - i. e., noble ones.

Wallow yourselves in the ashes - Rather, roll yourselves on the ground.

For ... - Read; "for your days for being slaughtered are accomplished, and I will scatter you" (or, (dash you in pieces).

Fall like a pleasant vessel - The comparison suggests the idea of change from a thing of value into worthless fragments.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

35. Literally, "Flight shall fail the shepherds … escaping (shall fail) the principal," &c. (Am 2:14). The leaders will be the first objects for slaughter; escape by flight will be out of their power.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In ordinary dispensations of judgment, there is some way left to escape, and if there be any way of escape, great men are likeliest to find it; but he telleth them that the greatest men should find no way to flee from or escape this terrible dispensation of God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the shepherds shall have no way to flee,.... Or, "and flight shall perish from the shepherds" (u); though they may attempt it, they shall not be able to accomplish it; neither the dignity of their persons, the greatness of their power, or the abundance of their riches, would make a way for them; their enemies being so numerous, powerful, and watchful:

nor the principal of the flock to escape; this was particularly verified in Zedekiah and his princes, Jeremiah 39:4. The Targum is,

"and the house of fugitives shall perish from the kings, and deliverance from the mighty of the people.''

(u) "et peribit fuga a pastoribus", V. L. "effugiumperibit", Schmidt; "perfugium", Cocceius.

Geneva Study Bible

And the {b} shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the chief of the flock to escape.

(b) It will not help them to seek to flee.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

35. And the shepherds, etc.] For the idiom in mg. flight shall perish from the shepherds, and escape from, etc., cp. Job 11:20 mg.; Psalm 142:4 (Hebrews 5); Amos 2:14.

Jeremiah 25:35

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

No rank is spared. This is intimated in the summons to howl and lament addressed to the shepherds, i.e., the kings and rulers on earth (cf. Jeremiah 10:21; Jeremiah 22:22, etc.), and to the lordly or glorious of the flock, i.e., to the illustrious, powerful, and wealthy. With "sprinkle you," cf. Jeremiah 6:26. Your days are full or filled for the slaughter, i.e., the days of your life are full, so that ye shall be slain; cf. Lamentations 4:18. וּתפוצותיכם is obscure and hard to explain. It is so read by the Masora, while many codd. and editt. have וּתפוּצותיכם. According to this latter form, Jerome, Rashi, Kimchi, lately Maur. and Umbr., hold the word for a substantive: your dispersions. But whether we connect this with what precedes or what follows, we fail to obtain a fitting sense from it. Your days are full and your dispersions, for: the time is come when ye shall be slain and dispersed, cannot be maintained, because "dispersions" is not in keeping with "are full." Again: as regards your dispersions, ye shall fall, would give a good meaning, only if "your dispersions" meant: the flock dispersed by the fault of the shepherds; and with this the second pers. "ye shall fall" does not agree. The sig. of fatness given by Ew. to the word is wholly arbitrary. Hitz., Gr. and Ng. take the word to be a Tiphil (like תהרה, Jeremiah 12:5; Jeremiah 22:15), and read תּפיצותיכם, I scatter you. This gives a suitable sense; and there is no valid reason for attaching to the word, as Hitz. and Gr. do, the force of פּצץ or נפץ, smite in pieces. The thought, that one part of the flock shall be slain, the other scattered, seems quite apt; so also is that which follows, that they are scattered shall fall and break like precious, i.e., fine, ornamental vases. Hence there was no occasion for Ew.'s conjectural emendation, כּכרי, like precious lambs. Nor does the lxx rendering: ἥωσπερ οἱ κριοὶ οἱ ἐκλεκτοί, give it any support; for כּרים does not mean rams, but lambs. The similar comparison of Jechoniah to a worthless vessel (22:28) tells in favour of the reading in the text (Graf). - In Jeremiah 25:35 the threatening is made more woeful by the thought, that the shepherds shall find no refuge, and that no escape will be open to the sheep.