For the leaders of the nation are foolish, and they refuse Yahweh’s guidance. Therefore, without insight, they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.
As a good shepherd searches after his scattered sheep, so I will look after my sheep and rescue them from wherever they have been scattered on the day of disaster.
The priests did not stop and ask, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ The scribal scholars did not intimately know me. The shepherds of the people rebelled against me. The false prophets prophesied by the spirit of Baal, and they worshiped idols that could not help them.
“Israel was like straying lambs, driven away and scattered by lions. “First, the king of Assyria devoured them, and now, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed their bones.
Take all their camels and many sheep as the spoils of war. Those who live in the edges of the desert I will scatter to the four winds. And I, Yahweh, will bring disaster on them from every side.
The prophets prophesy lies, and the priests lead out of their own self-interest. And my people love it that way. But what will they do when judgment comes?”
Yahweh decrees: “List this man as ‘Childless,’ one who will never succeed in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will be accepted to sit on the throne of David and rule in Judah again.”