What Does Jeremiah 31:10 Mean?
Hear and respond to the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the far islands, and say, The one who scattered Israel will gather him and guard him, as a shepherd tends his flock.
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
Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock.THE KEY
The verse names one hand on both sides of dispersion: the one that scatters is the one that gathers and guards.
THE MEANING
You hear the LORD’s word declaring that the one who scatters Israel gathers and keeps him like a shepherd tends his flock. Here, scattering is not the final state; the same hand remains at work gathering and guarding.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being scattered means being abandoned or beyond God’s reach: the one who scattered Israel is still the one who gathers and guards him.
THE ROOT
יְקַבְּצֶנּוּ
yəqabbeṣennû
GROWS FROM
קבץ
Gather, collect, bring together
“gather him” in this verse is yəqabbeṣennû. The root makes gathering an active bringing together, not simply a return to where things were. The verse places that act in the same hand that scattered Israel, so dispersion does not put Israel beyond that hand’s reach.
ALSO GROWS
kevutsah: Group, collection
קְבוּצָה
A collection is what scattered parts become when they are brought together.
kibbutz: Gathering, collective
קִבּוּץ
This familiar derivative keeps the root’s sense of many being gathered into one group.
וּשְׁמָרוֹ
ûšəmārô
GROWS FROM
שמר
Guard, watch over, keep
“guard him” in this verse is ûšəmārô. The root carries the sense of active watchfulness. The shepherd does not merely collect the flock; he stays attentive to it and guards it.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: Watcher, guard
שֹׁמֵר
The one who keeps the flock is pictured as one who watches over it.
mishmeret: Guard duty, charge
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
Keeping is an ongoing charge, giving weight to the shepherd’s care after the gathering.
מְזָרֵה
məzārēh
GROWS FROM
זרה
Scatter, disperse; also winnow
“scattered” in this verse is məzārēh. The root can describe scattering and winnowing, where material is spread apart. Against that movement, the verse sets קבץ (qavats), gathering: the same account holds dispersion and bringing together in view.
ALSO GROWS
zarah: To scatter, disperse, winnow
זָרָה
This verb names the dispersing action that the verse sets beside gathering.
mizreh: Winnowing shovel or fork
מִזְרֶה
The related tool makes visible the spreading apart carried by this root’s winnowing sense.
THE PATTERN
Scattering does not end the shepherd’s care; the scattered are sought, gathered, and kept.
As a shepherd looks over his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so I will look over my sheep. I will snatch them out of every place where they were scattered in the day of cloud and thick darkness.The LORD builds Jerusalem; he gathers the driven-out of Israel.And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must lead them also, and they shall hear and respond to my voice, and there shall be one flock, and one shepherd.THE THREAD
And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of every land where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their pastures; they shall bear fruit and multiply.“Gather” here and “I will gather” in Jeremiah 23:3 come from the same Hebrew root, קבץ (qavats), meaning to gather or bring together. The connected verse also holds the tension plainly: the one who drove the flock gathers it back into its folds.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us