Jeremiah 33:12,13 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Bible Comments

Again in this place shall be a habitation for shepherds, &c. See Jeremiah 50:19; Isaiah 65:10. In those places which were desolate, without man and beast, there should be flocks and herds of sheep and goats, which the shepherds should take care of as in former times. And in the cities of Judah shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them Namely, so as to keep account of them, as they were wont to do, both morning and evening in those countries. Virgil alludes to the same custom, when he says, Ecclesiastes 3 ., Bisque die numerant ambo pecus, alter et hædos; Twice each day they count my goats and sheep. See Leviticus 27:32, where תחת חשׁבשׂ, passing under the rod, means their being numbered, the shepherds striking every sheep with his rod, or crook, as it passed out of the fold, and so counting them; and the expression here made use of, על ידי מונה, under the hand of him that numbers them, seems to signify the same thing.

Jeremiah 33:12-13

12 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.

13 In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them, saith the LORD.