My sheep were scattered repeats the first clause of the previous verse (see the comments there). This repetition emphasizes the sad picture of God’s sheep (this is, his people) not being all together, but scattered everywhere. The verb were scattered is actually at the end of the previous verse in Hebrew (so King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible).

They wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill: Because the sheep/people were not together, they wandered all over the place alone and in danger. Mountains and hills are places of particular danger for sheep, not only because there is the danger of falling, but also because wild animals find shelter in those places.

My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth: Once again the idea of the scattered sheep is repeated for emphasis. Over all the face of the earth stresses how far and wide they were scattered. New International Reader’s Version keeps the exaggeration here by saying “over the whole earth.”

With none to search or seek for them: Since the shepherds were not doing their job properly, no one was concerned enough to go and look for the sheep that had wandered away. The Hebrew verbs rendered search and seek are synonyms. They are used together here for emphasis. Contemporary English Version combines them by rendering this clause as “without anyone even bothering to look for them.”

Verses 5-6 may be combined and restructured into a more logical order as follows:

• The people were like sheep that didn’t have leaders to look after them properly and they wandered off in all directions throughout the land. No one went to look for them or tried to find them. They walked about over all the hills and mountains. Then it was easy for all the wild animals to catch them and eat them.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .