For the fortress is neglected; the once-crowded ¹  city is abandoned. Hill ²  and watchtower are permanently uninhabited. ³  Wild donkeys love to go there, and flocks graze there. ⁴ 

The leaders will not be able to run away and hide. ¹  The shepherds of the flocks will not be able to escape.

The land of Judah will be inhabited by people who live in its towns as well as by farmers and shepherds with their flocks. ¹ 

I used you to smash shepherds and their flocks. I used you to smash farmers and their teams of oxen. I used you to smash governors and leaders.” ¹ 

Although they bring their flocks and herds ¹  to seek ²  the favor of the Lord, ³  They will not find him – he has withdrawn himself from them!

Listen to the cattle groan! ¹  The herds of livestock wander around in confusion ²  because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

Jacob removed these lambs, but he made the rest of the flock face ¹  the streaked and completely dark-colored animals in Laban’s flock. So he made separate flocks for himself and did not mix them with Laban’s flocks.

Laban replied ¹  to Jacob, “These women ²  are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, ³  and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today ⁴  or the children to whom they have given birth?

When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds ¹  would roll the stone off the mouth of the well and water the sheep. Then they would put the stone back in its place over the well’s mouth.

Then Jacob ¹  said, “Since it is still the middle of the day, ²  it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. You should water the sheep and then go and let them graze some more.” ³ 

So Laban asked, ¹  “What should I give you?” “You don’t need to give me a thing,” ²  Jacob replied, ³  “but if you agree to this one condition, ⁴  I will continue to care for ⁵  your flocks and protect them:

Let me walk among ¹  all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, ²  and the spotted or speckled goats. ³  These animals will be my wages. ⁴ 

This was my lot ¹  for twenty years in your house: I worked like a slave ²  for you – fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks, but you changed my wages ten times!

So Jacob ¹  said to him, “Go now and check on ²  the welfare ³  of your brothers and of the flocks, and bring me word.” So Jacob ⁴  sent him from the valley of Hebron.

Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father, my brothers, their flocks and herds, and all that they own have arrived from the land of Canaan. They are now ¹  in the land of Goshen.”

all Joseph’s household, his brothers, and his father’s household. But they left their little children and their flocks and herds in the land of Goshen.

then the hand of the Lord will surely bring ¹  a very terrible plague ²  on your livestock in the field, on the horses, the donkeys, the camels, ³  the herds, and the flocks.

No one is to come up with you; do not let anyone be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks or the herds may graze in front of that mountain.”

And there you must take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, ¹  your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

Your children ¹  will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.