Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of ground. They have turned My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.
Parallel translations
- WEB Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have trodden my portion under foot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
- KJV Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
- NKJV “Many rulers have destroyed My vineyard, They have trodden My portion underfoot; They have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
- NASB “Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard, They have trampled down My field; They have made My pleasant field A desolate wilderness.
- NLT “Many rulers have ravaged my vineyard, trampling down the vines and turning all its beauty into a barren wilderness.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Many 'shepherds' have ruined God's vineyard, trampling His pleasant land into wilderness.
Overview
The 'shepherds' are likely the invading rulers and leaders who devastate Judah, God's vineyard. The vineyard image recalls Israel as God's cherished planting now laid waste (Isaiah 5). Jesus, the true Vine and Good Shepherd, restores what faithless shepherds destroyed (John 10; John 15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Isa 5:1–7I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
- Jer 23:1“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD.
- Isa 63:18For a short while Your people possessed Your holy place, but our enemies have trampled Your sanctuary.
- Jer 3:19Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never turn away from following Me.
- Luke 20:9–16Then He proceeded to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it out to some tenants, and went away for a long time.
- Ps 80:8–16You uprooted a vine from Egypt; You drove out the nations and transplanted it.
- Jer 6:3Shepherds and their flocks will come against her; they will pitch their tents all around her, each tending his own portion:
- Luke 21:14So make up your mind not to worry beforehand how to defend yourselves.
- Rev 11:2But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.
- Isa 43:28So I will disgrace the princes of your sanctuary, and I will devote Jacob to destruction and Israel to reproach.”
- Lam 1:10–11The adversary has seized all her treasures. For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary—those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.
- Jer 25:9behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Jer 39:3Then all the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-sarsekim the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 12:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.