> 
> 
> ```
> “Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
>     and declare it in the coastlands far away;
> say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
>     and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’
> 
> ```
> 
> —Jeremiah 31:10 ([ESV](http://www.esvbible.org/Jeremiah+31/))
> 
> 
> 

Why is the masculine pronoun "him" used to describe Israel in this passage? Why doesn't Jeremiah refer to the people of Israel with the plural pronoun "them"?