“But as for you, O my flock, thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold I will judge between cattle and cattle, as well the rams as the he-goats. Does it seem a small thing to you to have fed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture. And to have drunk of the clear waters, but you must foul the residue with your feet? And as for my sheep, they eat what you have trodden with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet.”
The wider under-leadership are likened to the rams and the he-goats, lords of the flock. They fed themselves on good pasture and clear water and then trampled the pasture down and muddied the water. They did not care what happened to the remainder of the flock. So God's people continually received tainted teaching and the harder side of life, while the rich prospered.