Jeremiah 23:3-4

23:3 Then I myself will regather those of my people ¹  who are still alive from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their homeland. ²  They will greatly increase in number. 23:4 I will install rulers ³  over them who will care for them. Then they will no longer need to fear or be terrified. None of them will turn up missing. ⁴  I, the Lord, promise it! ⁵ 

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¹ tn Heb “my sheep.”

² tn Heb “their fold.”

³ tn Heb “shepherds.”

⁴ tn There are various nuances of the word פָּקַד (paqad) represented in vv. 2, 4. See Ps 8:4 (8:5 HT) and Zech 10:3 for “care for/take care of” (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.A.1.a). See Exod 20:5; Amos 3:2; Jer 9:24; 11:22 for “punish” (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.A.3). See 1 Kgs 20:39 and 2 Kgs 10:19 for “be missing” (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Niph.1).

sn There is an extended play on the Hebrew word פָּקַד which is a word with rather broad English equivalents. Here the word refers to the fault of the shepherds/rulers who have not “taken care” of the sheep/people (v. 2), the “punishment” for the evil they have done in not taking care of them (v. 2), and the fact that after the Lord assigns new shepherds/rulers over them they will be cared for in such a way that none of them “will turn up missing” (v. 4).

⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”