What Does Jeremiah 23:1 Mean?
Woe to the shepherds who drive to lose the way and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.THE KEY
The words for “pastors” (רֹעִים, ro’im) and “my pasture” (מַרְעִיתִי, mar’iti) share רעה (ra’ah, “to shepherd or feed”): those meant to nourish the flock dismantle the provision bound to their calling.
THE MEANING
This verse names what happens when those entrusted with care become a source of loss and division: the flock is destroyed and scattered. Yet the sheep and pasture remain the LORD’s; their belonging is not erased by the shepherds’ failure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a sacred role makes its holder safe for the flock dissolves here: a shepherd can destroy and scatter what belongs to the LORD.
THE ROOT
רֹעִים
ro'im
GROWS FROM
רעה
r-ʿ-h
To shepherd, tend, graze, or feed; the word for pasture grows from this same root.
“Pastors” and “my pasture” carry the same seed: the shepherd’s work and the place where the flock feeds are bound together. The accusation cuts through, the shepherds damage and scatter the very flock and provision their calling is meant to tend.
ALSO GROWS
ra'ah: To shepherd, tend, or feed.
רָעָה
This is the action behind “pastors,” making their calling an act of care and nourishment.
mir'eh: Pasture, a grazing place.
מִרְעֶה
The pasture is the place of feeding from the same root, binding the shepherd’s work to the flock’s nourishment.
מְאַבְּדִים
me'abbedim
GROWS FROM
אבד
ʾ-b-d
To perish or be lost; in a causative form, to cause to perish or destroy.
“drive to lose the way” in this verse is me'abbedim. The word translated “destroy” grows from a root that can mean to perish or become lost, used here in a form that makes the shepherds agents of that loss. The verse places destruction beside scattering: failed care makes the flock vulnerable to both harm and loss.
ALSO GROWS
avad: To perish or be lost.
אָבַד
This is the basic state carried in the root beneath the shepherds’ destructive action.
avedah: Loss; a lost thing.
אֲבֵדָה
This related form makes the language of destruction echo the condition of being lost.
מְפִצִים
mefitsim
GROWS FROM
פוץ
p-w-ṣ
To scatter or disperse; to be scattered.
“scatter” in this verse is mefitsim. The verb presents dispersion as something done to the sheep, not a condition that simply appears. Together with אבד (ʾ-b-d, “perish or be lost”), it names two outcomes of failed care: the flock is driven apart and exposed to loss.
ALSO GROWS
pūṣ: To scatter or be dispersed.
פּוּץ
This is the root action behind the shepherds’ scattering of the sheep.
hēp̄îṣ: To spread or scatter abroad.
הֵפִיץ
This related form keeps the root’s outward movement visible: what was gathered is spread apart.
THE PATTERN
Shepherding is revealed by whether the flock is nourished and gathered or neglected and scattered.
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I do not come up short.They were scattered, because there is no shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field, when they were scattered.I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his living soul for the sheep.THE THREAD
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD, Woe to those who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?Ezekiel names the shepherds with the same Hebrew word-family, רעה (ra’ah, “shepherd or feed”), and asks whether shepherds should not feed the flock. The shared root sharpens Jeremiah’s charge: these shepherds destroy the nourishment their name and role are meant to provide.
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