Hath spoiled - Or, spoileth.

And a voice of the cry of the shepherds,.... Or of the kings, as the Targum:

and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard; of the mighty of the people, as the same; what is before called for is here represented as in fact, because of the certainty of it:

for the Lord hath spoiled their pastures: their kingdoms, provinces, cities, and towns; or their people, as the Targum, among whom they lived, and by whom they were supported; still keeping up the metaphor of the shepherd and flock. This the Lord is said to do because he suffered it to be done, yea, ordered it to be done, as a punishment for their sins.

The prophet is already hearing in spirit the lamentation to which in Jeremiah 25:34 he has called them, because Jahveh has laid waste the pastures of the shepherds and their flocks, and destroyed the peaceful meadows by the heat of His anger. - In Jeremiah 25:38, finally, the discourse is rounded off by a repetition and expansion of the thought with which the description of the judgment was begun in Jeremiah 25:30. As a young lion forsakes his covert to seek for prey, so Jahveh has gone forth out of His heavenly habitation to hold judgment on the people; for their (the shepherds') land becomes a desert. The perff. are prophetic. כּי has grounding force. The desolation of the land gives proof that the Lord has arisen to do judgment. חרון היּונה seems strange, since the adjective היּונה never occurs independently, but only in connection with חרב (Jeremiah 46:16; Jeremiah 50:16, and with עיר, Zechariah 3:1). חרון, again, is regularly joined with 'אף י, and only three times besides with a suffix referring to Jahveh (Exodus 15:7; Psalm 2:5; Ezekiel 7:14). In this we find justification for the conjecture of Hitz., Ew., Gr., etc., that we should read with the lxx and Chald. חרב . The article with the adj. after the subst. without one, here and in Jeremiah 46:16; Jeremiah 50:16, is to be explained by the looseness of connection between the participle and its noun; cf. Ew. ֗335, a.

A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture.

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.