The ones ‘buying them’ will slaughter them and not incur guilt. The verb ’āšam can be translated ‘incur guilt’, ‘be guilty’ or ‘be condemned’ (e.g. Jer. 2:3; Ps. 34:22–23; 2 Chr. 19:10). The identity of these buyers is not explicit, but the wider context opens up the possibility that they are foreign shepherds who have not been held accountable for their slaughter of the flock (cf. 10:3; 11:3, 6). The idea that the nations are yet to be judged for their evil is also present throughout the night visions