Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 6:3
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.
3. For shepherds in the sense of leaders, rulers cp. chs. Jer 2:8, Jer 3:15.
every one in his place ] The Heb. is lit. each his hand. They shall not need to encroach upon one another, finding abundance in their own portion.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her: the prophet here proceeds in his metaphor, and possibly the rather, because he chooseth to speak in the style of his own education, which may also give some countenance to the supplement of pasture or land in the former verse instead of woman: the meaning is, the Chaldean princes, with their armies, as so many flocks, shall come into this pleasant land; see Jer 12:10; in which expression there is something of a scoff, as Jer 4:16,17.
They shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall so place their warlike tents, as to form a siege to begirt her round, Jer 1:15; Eze 4:2.
Every one in his place, Heb. hand, i.e. near hand, or beside or near one another; thus 2Ch 21:16; Job 1:14; thus hand is taken for place; i.e. each one in his quarter or station, not a man but shall do his part, and shall be skilful and powerful to destroy wherever he comes: it intimates also that every thing shall be so much at the enemys own disposal, that they shall be able to choose their own quarters; they shall place their army in wings, and troops, and regiments, as they see good, to their best advantage, to be helpful one unto another, as shepherds are wont to do their flocks; or, they shall fight in several parties, and each destroy his part assigned him through the whole country, and they shall join as it were in one body against Jerusalem.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. shepherdshostile leaderswith their armies (Jer 1:15;Jer 4:17; Jer 49:20;Jer 50:45).
feedThey shall consumeeach one all that is near him; literally, “his hand,“that is, the place which he occupies (Nu2:17; see on Isa 56:5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole 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 Ps 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,
Ps 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 “paverunt unusquisque manum suam”, Montanus; “eos qui sub manu sua sunt”, V. L.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But he afterwards adds, Come shall shepherds, etc. ; that is, there is no ground for the Jews to deceive themselves, because God has hitherto spared them, and restrained the assaults of enemies; for now shall come shepherds. He keeps to the same metaphor; “come, “he says, “shall shepherds, “together with their flocks; that is, come shall leaders of armies with their forces. But I have already reminded you, that the Prophet here has a regard to the city where he had been born, and adopts a pastoral language. Come then shall shepherds with their flocks; fix shall they their tents, and feed shall each in his place, he means that the whole of Jerusalem would be so much in the power of enemies, that each one would freely choose his own part or his own portion; for when there is any fear, then the shepherds gather their flocks, that they may assist one another; but when everything is in their own power, they move here and there as they please. This free acting then intimates, that the Jews would have no strength, and would be helped by no aid; but that the shepherds would surround the whole city and besiege it: every one, he says, would be in his own place. (164) It follows —
(164) There is evidently a ו or a י wanted before the second verb in this verse. The Septuagint and the Syriac read with ו, and the Targum with י. The same is the case with the third verb, רעו; but there are two MSS. which have the ו here, with which the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Targum agree. Then the version would be, —
To her shall come shepherds and their flocks, And pitch by her their tents around, And they shall feed, every one in his border.
“
To pitch against her” seems improper: the proposition על means by or near, as well as against. And יד does not mean properly place, but side or border. It is indeed rendered place often in our version. See Num 2:17; Deu 23:12; Isa 56:5; and in Isa 57:8, “quarter.” The ancient versions differ; the word seems not to have been understood. It is rendered by the Septuagint, “by his hand;” by the Vulgate, “those under his hand;” and by the Targum, “his neighbor.” — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Shall come unto her.Better, Unto it (sc., the pasture) shall come shepherds with their flocksi.e., the leaders and the armies of the invaders. The other verbs are in the past tense, the future being seen, as it were realised, They have pitched, they have pastured.
Every one in his place.Literally, each on his hand, or perhaps, they shall feed, each his hand, i.e., shall let it rove in plunder at will by the side of his own tent. The work of plunder was to go on everywhere. The imagery is drawn from the attack of a nomadic tribe on a richly-cultivated plain.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. The shepherds shall come The coming destruction is set forth under the familiar figure of shepherds with their flocks, who eat up the substance of the land. The figure of shepherds is a common one for princes and people.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 6:3 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.
Ver. 3. The shepherds. ] See on Jer 6:2 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
shepherds: i.e. the Chaldean armies. See Jer 3:15,
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 6:3-4
Jer 6:3-4
“Shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed everyone in his place. Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day declineth, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.”
“Shepherds shall pitch their tents against Jerusalem… shall feed every one in his place …” (Jer 6:3). The armies of Babylon are here compared to the large numbers of shepherds that once pastured the area around Jerusalem; but this verse, “Describes the soldiers, eager to feed upon the richness of the area.
“Prepare ye war against her …” (Jer 6:4). “This expression derives from the ancient institution of Holy War. In ancient times, one nation making war against another always undertook the venture by extensive preparations, making sacrifices to their gods, consulting so-called oracles, and making all of the preparations that in later years came to be associated with a formal declaration of war.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
shepherds: Nah 3:18
they shall: Jer 4:16, Jer 4:17, Jer 39:1-3, 2Ki 24:2, 2Ki 24:10-12, 2Ki 25:1-4, Luk 19:43
Reciprocal: Jer 12:10 – pastors Jer 52:4 – pitched Lam 1:17 – commanded Lam 4:5 – that did
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 6:3. The comparison is continued in order to account for the literal prediction that is to be made soon. This daughter is so attractive that the shepherds will bring their flocks to be near her so they can attend to their duties at the same time they are paying attention to her.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
6:3 The shepherds with their flocks {e} shall come to her; they shall pitch [their] tents against her on every side; they shall feed every one in his place.
(e) She will be so destroyed that the sheep may be fed in her.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The enemy leaders and their soldiers would encamp around Jerusalem like shepherds with their sheep (cf. Jer 4:17; Jer 12:10). Even though Jerusalem lay in a pleasant pastoral setting, its beauty would not deter the Lord from destroying her.