Jeremiah 33:12,13

Again in this place. — The “place” includes, as in Jeremiah 33:10, “the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem.” The “habitation” for shepherds is translated sometimes by “sheepcote” (1 Chronicles 17:7; 2 Samuel 7:8), sometimes by “fold” (Isaiah 65:10; Ezekiel 34:14), sometimes by “dwelling” or “habitation.” It would seem here to answer to the “towns” of our old English speech, as meaning enclosed spaces, with the tower of the watchman (2 Kings 17:9; Isaiah 1:8), in which, in times of average tranquillity, shepherds and their flocks found shelter, but which were abandoned when the land was overrun by an invading army. In Jeremiah 33:13 the eye of the prophet travels over such districts within the kingdom of Judah to the north and south of Jerusalem, and adds to the picture the vivid touch that the “sheep shall pass under the hands of him that telleth them,” the shepherd whose work it was to count the flock — in older English, “to tell his tale” — as it went out in the morning and returned at nightfall, should find that he had lost none of them.