What Does Jeremiah 6:3 Mean?
The shepherds shall come to her with their flocks; they shall pitch their tents against her all around; each shall feed within the reach of his hand.
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
The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place.THE KEY
The siege is pictured as grazing: shepherds circle Jerusalem, each claiming a patch to feed his flock.
THE MEANING
Jerusalem is surrounded by forces that pitch tents around her and settle into places of their own. The shepherd-and-flock image makes the siege feel like organized grazing, each group feeding where it has established itself. The city is treated as ground to be occupied and used up.
THE ROOT
רֹעִים
ro'im
GROWS FROM
רעה
To tend, shepherd, pasture, or feed a flock.
The word rendered “shepherds” and the verb rendered “feed” come from the same root: רֹעִים (ro’im, shepherds) and רָעוּ (ra’u, they pasture or feed). That shared seed overlays the encirclement with a grazing image: each group takes its place around Jerusalem and tends its flock within the siege.
ALSO GROWS
ro'eh: Shepherd; one who tends a flock.
רֹעֶה
The invaders are pictured as shepherds, giving their encirclement the shape of a flock gathered around a city.
mir'eh: Pasture; a grazing place.
מִרְעֶה
The pasture branch makes the surrounding land feel divided into patches where each group feeds.
THE PATTERN
A shepherd’s power over a flock exposes whether the flock is tended, exploited, or abandoned.
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?But the hired hand, who is not the shepherd, and whose sheep they are not, sees the wolf coming, and lets go of the sheep, and flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them.Shepherd the flock of God among you, watching over it, not by force but willingly, according to God; and not for shameful gain but eagerly.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?Jeremiah uses רעה (ra’ah, to tend or pasture) for both the surrounding “shepherds” and their act of feeding. Ezekiel uses that same root to expose shepherds who feed themselves, sharpening the grazing image into a picture of power consuming what it holds.
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