Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, August 23rd, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Jeremiah 6:3

Enemy shepherds will surround you with all their flocks. They will set up their tents all around you, and each one will let his sheep eat the grass.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Tent;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Shepherds;  

Dictionaries:

- Easton Bible Dictionary - Herdsman;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Shepherd;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Kir-Hareseth;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Zechariah, Book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Jeremiah (2);   Tent;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Shepherds and their flocks will come against her;they will pitch their tents all around her.Each will pasture his own portion.
Hebrew Names Version
Shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed everyone in his place.
King James Version
The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
English Standard Version
Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents around her; they shall pasture, each in his place.
New American Standard Bible
"Shepherds and their flocks will come to her, They will pitch their tents around her, They will pasture, each in his place.
New Century Version
Shepherds with their flocks will come against Jerusalem. They will set up their tents all around her, each shepherd taking care of his own section."
Amplified Bible
"Shepherds with their flocks will come against her; They will pitch their tents all around her; They will pasture, each one in his place [eating up all her rich grasses].
World English Bible
Shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed everyone in his place.
Geneva Bible (1587)
The pastors with their flockes shall come vnto her: they shall pitche their tentes rounde about by her, & euery one shal feede in his place.
Legacy Standard Bible
Shepherds and their flocks will come to her;They will pitch their tents around her;They will pasture each in his place.
Berean Standard Bible
Shepherds and their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents all around her, each tending his own portion:
Contemporary English Version
then let their flocks eat all the grass.
Complete Jewish Bible
Shepherds advance on her with their flocks; all around her they pitch their tents, each grazing his own plot of pasture.
Darby Translation
Shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch [their] tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
George Lamsa Translation
The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
Good News Translation
kings will camp there with their armies. They will pitch their tents around the city, and each of them will camp wherever they want.
Lexham English Bible
Shepherds and their flocks will come against her, they will pitch their tents against her all around, they will pasture, each his portion.
Literal Translation
The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch tents on her all around. They shall each one feed in his hand.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Their tentes shal they pitch rounde aboute her, and euery one shal fede with his honde.
American Standard Version
Shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
Bible in Basic English
Keepers of sheep with their flocks will come to her; they will put up their tents round her; everyone will get food in his place.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Shepherds with their flocks come unto her; they pitch their tents against her round about; they feed bare every one what is nigh at hand.
King James Version (1611)
The shepheards with their flocks shall come vnto her: they shall pitch their tents against her round about: they shall feede, euery one in his place.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Their tentes shall they pitche rounde about her, and euery one shall feede in his place.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
The shepherds and their flocks shall come to her; and they shall pitch their tents against her round about, and shall feed their flocks each with his hand.
English Revised Version
Shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Scheepherdis and her flockis schulen come to it; thei han piyt tentis in it in cumpas; ech man schal feede hem, that ben vndur his hond.
Update Bible Version
Shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.
Webster's Bible Translation
The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her; they shall pitch [their] tents against her on every side; they shall feed every one in his place.
New English Translation
Kings will attack it with their armies. They will encamp in siege all around it. Each of them will devastate the portion assigned to him.
New King James Version
The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her. They shall pitch their tents against her all around. Each one shall pasture in his own place."
New Living Translation
Enemies will surround you, like shepherds camped around the city. Each chooses a place for his troops to devour.
New Life Bible
Shepherds and their flocks will come to her. They will set up their tents around her and feed their flocks there, each in his place.
New Revised Standard
Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her. They shall pitch their tents around her; they shall pasture, all in their places.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Against her, shall come shepherds with their flocks; They have pitched against her their tents, round about, They tend their flocks every one near at hand.
Douay-Rheims Bible
The shepherds shall come to her with their flocks: they have pitched their tents against her round about: every one shall feed them that are under his hand.
Revised Standard Version
Shepherds with their flocks shall come against her; they shall pitch their tents around her, they shall pasture, each in his place.
Young's Literal Translation
Unto her come do shepherds and their droves, They have stricken tents by her round about, They have fed each [in] his own station.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Shepherds and their flocks will come to her, They will pitch their tents around her, They will pasture each in his place.

Contextual Overview

1 "Run for your lives, people of Benjamin! Run away from the city of Jerusalem! Blow the war trumpet in the city of Tekoa! Put up the warning flag in the city of Beth Hakkerem! Do these things because disaster is coming from the north. Terrible destruction is coming to you. 2 Jerusalem, you are like a beautiful meadow. But I will destroy you! 3 Enemy shepherds will surround you with all their flocks. They will set up their tents all around you, and each one will let his sheep eat the grass. 4 "Get ready to fight against Jerusalem. Get up! We will attack the city at noon. But it is already getting late. The evening shadows are growing long. 5 So get up! We will attack the city at night! Let's destroy the strong walls that are around Jerusalem." 6 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: "Cut down the trees around Jerusalem, and build a siege mound against it. This city should be punished because inside there is no justice—only slavery. 7 As a well keeps its water fresh, so Jerusalem keeps its wickedness fresh. I hear about the robbing and violence in this city all the time. I see nothing but pain and sickness there all the time. 8 Listen to this warning, Jerusalem, or I will turn my back on you. I will make your land an empty desert. No one will be able to live there."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

shepherds: Nahum 3:18

they shall: Jeremiah 4:16, Jeremiah 4:17, Jeremiah 39:1-3, 2 Kings 24:2, 2 Kings 24:10-12, 2 Kings 25:1-4, Luke 19:43

Reciprocal: Jeremiah 12:10 - pastors Jeremiah 52:4 - pitched Lamentations 1:17 - commanded Lamentations 4:5 - that did

Cross-References

Genesis 6:1
The number of people on earth continued to increase. When these people had daughters, the sons of God saw how beautiful they were. So they chose the women they wanted. They married them, and the women had their children. Then the Lord said, "People are only human. I will not let my Spirit be troubled by them forever. I will let them live only 120 years." During this time and also later, the Nephilim people lived in the land. They have been famous as powerful soldiers since ancient times.
Genesis 6:13
So God said to Noah, "Everyone has filled the earth with anger and violence. So I will destroy all living things. I will remove them from the earth.
Genesis 6:14
Use cypress wood and build a boat for yourself. Make rooms in the boat and cover it with tar inside and out.
Genesis 6:15
"This is the size I want you to make the boat: 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high.
Genesis 6:16
Make a window for the boat about 1 cubit below the roof. Put a door in the side of the boat. Make three floors in the boat: a top deck, a middle deck, and a lower deck.
Genesis 6:18
I will make a special agreement with you. You, your wife, your sons, and their wives will all go into the boat.
Genesis 6:20
Two of every kind of bird, animal, and creeping thing will come to you so that you might keep them alive.
Numbers 11:17
Then I will come down and speak with you there. The Spirit is on you now. But I will also give some of that Spirit to them. Then they will help you take care of the people. In this way you will not have to be responsible for these people alone.
Nehemiah 9:30
"You were very patient with our ancestors. You let them mistreat you for many years. You warned them with your Spirit. You sent the prophets to warn them. But our ancestors didn't listen. So you gave them to people in other countries.
Psalms 78:39
He remembered that they were only people, like a wind that blows and then is gone.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her,.... Kings and their armies, as the Targum paraphrases it; kings and generals are compared to shepherds, and their armies to flocks, who are under their command and direction; here they design Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with his generals and armies, who should come up against Jerusalem, as to a good pasture:

they shall pitch their tents against her round about; their military tents, in allusion to pastoral ones. The phrase is expressive of the Chaldean army surrounding and besieging Jerusalem:

they shall feed everyone in his place; where he is ordered and fixed by his head general: or, "everyone shall feed his hand" p: the sheep of his hand; see Psalms 95:7, "them that are under his hand", as the Vulgate Latin version renders it; who are committed to his care and charge. The meaning is, he shall direct the company or companies of soldiers under him, where to be, and what part to take in the siege; or "with his hand", as the Septuagint, with the skilfulness of his hands,

Psalms 78:72, or with might and power; or "at his hand", as the Arabic version; what is at hand, what is nearest to him; or according to his will and pleasure. The Targum is,

"everyone shall help his neighbour.''

The sense, according to Kimchi, is, one king or general shall lay siege against a city, or against cities, and so another, until they have consumed and subdued the whole land.

p רעו איש את ידו "paverunt unusquisque manum suam", Montanus; "eos qui sub manu sua sunt", V. L.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

To it shall come “shepherds with their flocks:”

They have pitched upon it “their tents round about:”

They have pastured each his hand, “i. e., side.”

The pasture is so abundant that each feeds his flock, i. e., plunders Jerusalem, at the side of his own tent.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 6:3. The shepherds with their flocks — The chiefs and their battalions. The invading army is about to spoil and waste all the fertile fields round about the city, while engaged in the siege.


 
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