Preaching and Reading the Old Testament Lessons:
Both Luke (15:3-7; 19:10) and John (10:11-12) characterize our Lord as the Good Shepherd. And Matthew, Mark, and Luke all use the title of King to describe him. Actually, the two terms, shepherd and king, are synonymous, because kings, throughout the scriptures, are known as the shepherds of their people.
Thus our text is dealing with the rulers of Israel, and it is made up of two separate oracles (vv. 1-4 and 5-6) that have been editorially included in Jeremiah's long section concerning the kings and leaders of Judah in the last decades of her life (Jeremiah 21:11--23:8).