1 Kings 18:22

18:22 Elijah said to them: ¹  “I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left, but there are 450 prophets of Baal.

1 Kings 22:6-8

22:6 So the king of Israel assembled about four hundred prophets and asked them, “Should I attack Ramoth Gilead or not?” ²  They said, “Attack! The sovereign one ³  will hand it over to the king.” 22:7 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not a prophet of the Lord still here, that we may ask him?” 22:8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we can seek the Lord’s will. ⁴  But I despise ⁵  him because he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster. His name is Micaiah son of Imlah. ⁶  Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not say such things.”

Isaiah 56:9-12

The Lord Denounces Israel’s Paganism

56:9 All you wild animals in the fields, come and devour,

all you wild animals in the forest!

56:10 All their watchmen ⁷  are blind,

they are unaware. ⁸ 

All of them are like mute dogs,

unable to bark.

They pant, ⁹  lie down,

and love to snooze.

56:11 The dogs have big appetites;

they are never full. ¹⁰ 

They are shepherds who have no understanding;

they all go their own way,

each one looking for monetary gain. ¹¹ 

56:12 Each one says, ¹² 

‘Come on, I’ll get some wine!

Let’s guzzle some beer!

Tomorrow will be just like today!

We’ll have everything we want!’ ¹³ 

Ezekiel 34:2-6

34:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds ¹⁴  of Israel; prophesy, and say to them – to the shepherds: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock? 34:3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep! 34:4 You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness ¹⁵  you have ruled over them. 34:5 They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast. ¹⁶  34:6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them.

Zechariah 11:5

11:5 Those who buy them ¹⁷  slaughter them and are not held guilty; those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich.’ Their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

Zechariah 11:17

11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd

who abandons the flock!

May a sword fall on his arm and his right eye!

May his arm wither completely away,

and his right eye become completely blind!”

Matthew 9:36

9:36 When ¹⁸  he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, ¹⁹  like sheep without a shepherd.

Acts 16:9-10

16:9 A ²⁰  vision appeared to Paul during the night: A Macedonian man was standing there ²¹  urging him, ²²  “Come over ²³  to Macedonia ²⁴  and help us!” 16:10 After Paul ²⁵  saw the vision, we attempted ²⁶  immediately to go over to Macedonia, ²⁷  concluding that God had called ²⁸  us to proclaim the good news to them.

Philippians 2:21

2:21 Others are busy with their own concerns, not those of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 11:2-3

11:2 But ²⁹  do not measure the outer courtyard ³⁰  of the temple; leave it out, ³¹  because it has been given to the Gentiles, ³²  and they will trample on the holy city ³³  for forty-two months. 11:3 And I will grant my two witnesses authority ³⁴  to prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.

[18:22]  ¹ tn Heb “to the people.”

[22:6]  ² tn Heb “Should I go against Ramoth Gilead for war or should I refrain?”

[22:6]  ³ tn Though Jehoshaphat requested an oracle from “the Lord” (יְהוָה, Yahweh), they stop short of actually using this name and substitute the title אֲדֹנָי (’adonai, “lord; master”). This ambiguity may explain in part Jehoshaphat’s hesitancy and caution (vv. 7-8). He seems to doubt that the four hundred are genuine prophets of the Lord.

[22:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “to seek the Lord from him.”

[22:8]  ⁵ tn Or “hate.”

[22:8]  ⁶ tn The words “his name is” are supplied for stylistic reasons.

[56:10]  ⁷ sn The “watchmen” are probably spiritual leaders, most likely prophets and priests, responsible for giving the people moral direction.

[56:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “they do not know”; KJV “they are all ignorant”; NIV “they all lack knowledge.”

[56:10]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text has הֹזִים (hozim), which appears to be derived from an otherwise unattested verbal root הָזָה (hazah). On the basis of alleged cognates, BDB 223 s.v. הָזָה offers the definition “dream, rave” while HALOT 243 s.v. הזה lists “pant.” In this case the dog metaphor of the preceding lines continues. The reference to dogs at the beginning of v. 11 favors the extension of the metaphor. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has חזים (“seers”) here. In this case the “watchmen” are directly identified as prophets and depicted as lazy.

[56:11]  ¹⁰ sn The phrase never full alludes to the greed of the leaders.

[56:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for his gain from his end.”

[56:12]  ¹² tn The words “each one says” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[56:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “great, [in] abundance, very much,” i.e., “very great indeed.” See HALOT 452 s.v. יֶתֶר.

[34:2]  ¹⁴ tn The term shepherd is applied to kings in the ancient Near East. In the OT the Lord is often addressed as shepherd of Israel (Gen 49:24; Ps 8:1). The imagery of shepherds as Israel’s leaders is also employed (Jer 23:1-2).

[34:4]  ¹⁵ tn The term translated “harshness” is used to describe the oppression the Israelites suffered as slaves in Egypt (Exod 1:13).

[34:5]  ¹⁶ tn As a case of dittography, the MT repeats “and they were scattered” at the end of the verse.

[11:5]  ¹⁷ sn The expression those who buy them appears to be a reference to the foreign nations to whom Israel’s own kings “sold” their subjects. Far from being good shepherds, then, they were evil and profiteering. The whole section (vv. 4-14) refers to the past when the Lord, the Good Shepherd, had in vain tried to lead his people to salvation and life.

[9:36]  ¹⁸ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[9:36]  ¹⁹ tn Or “because they had been bewildered and helpless.” The translational issue is whether the perfect participles are predicate (as in the text) or are pluperfect periphrastic (the alternate translation). If the latter, the implication would seem to be that the crowds had been in such a state until the Great Shepherd arrived.

[16:9]  ²⁰ tn Grk “And a.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[16:9]  ²¹ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[16:9]  ²² tn The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.

[16:9]  ²³ tn Grk “Coming over.” The participle διαβάς (diabas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[16:9]  ²⁴ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[16:10]  ²⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:10]  ²⁶ tn Grk “sought.”

[16:10]  ²⁷ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[16:10]  ²⁸ tn Or “summoned.”

[11:2]  ²⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[11:2]  ³⁰ tn On the term αὐλήν (aulhn) BDAG 150 s.v. αὐλή 1 states, “(outer) court of the temple…Rv 11:2.”

[11:2]  ³¹ tn The precise meaning of the phrase ἔκβαλε ἔξωθεν (ekbale exwqen) is difficult to determine.

[11:2]  ³² tn Or “to the nations” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[11:2]  ³³ sn The holy city appears to be a reference to Jerusalem. See also Luke 21:24.

[11:3]  ³⁴ tn The word “authority” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. “Power” would be another alternative that could be supplied here.