they were

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 or seek for them.'

Ezekiel 33:21, 28
In the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and reported, "The city has been taken!" . . .

1 Kings 22:17, 17
So Micaiah declared: "I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD said, 'These people have no master; let each one return home in peace.'" . . .

2 Chronicles 18:16
So Micaiah declared: "I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the LORD said, 'These people have no master; let each one return home in peace.'"

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 50:6, 17
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. . . .

Zechariah 13:7
Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, against the man who is My Companion, " declares the LORD of Hosts. "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones.

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.

because there is no shepherd.

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,

Zechariah 10:2, 3
For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd. . . .

and they became

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,

Isaiah 56:9
Come, all you beasts of the field, eat greedily, all you beasts of the forest.

Jeremiah 12:9-12
Is not My inheritance to Me like a speckled bird of prey, with other birds of prey circling against her? Go, gather all the beasts of the field; bring them to devour her. . . .

John 10:2
But the one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

Acts 20:29-31
I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. . . .