Jeremiah 23:1 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Wo be unto the pastors Or, as הוי is by some rendered, Alas for the pastors! or, Ho the pastors! For it may be a particle of calling, as the LXX. and Syriac represent it, and not of commination, as in our translation. The word pastors comprehends both civil and ecclesiastical governors: see note on Jeremiah 2:8. This acceptation of the word agrees with the prophet's complaint elsewhere, that their rulers, as well as their priests and prophets, were rather corrupters than reformers of the people's manners. And the Messiah himself, whose coming is foretold, Jeremiah 23:5, for the rectifying of these disorders, was both a king and a priest.