What Does Ezekiel 34:9 Mean in the King James?
Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Even the shepherds must hear and respond to the LORD’s word; tending others does not place anyone beyond its authority.
THE MEANING
Any role that tends others remains answerable to the LORD’s word. Here, hearing means receiving and responding, so responsibility begins with letting that word address the one who leads. The shepherds stand beneath the same voice they are meant to serve.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that care or authority makes its holder the final authority: the shepherds themselves must hear and answer to the LORD.
THE ROOT
שִׁמְעוּ
shimʿu
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, listen, attend, and respond.
“hear” in this verse is shimʿu. The command reaches beyond receiving sound: the shepherds are summoned to take in the LORD’s word and answer it. English can make hearing sound passive, while the Hebrew word carries the possibility of response.
ALSO GROWS
shāmaʿ: To hear, listen, or heed.
שָׁמַע
This verb is the seed of the command: hearing the LORD’s word involves attending to it.
shemūʿāh: A report or tidings, something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The same root can name what is heard as well as the act of hearing, linking the shepherds’ response to the message they receive.
הָרֹעִים
hā-rōʿîm
GROWS FROM
רעה
To tend, feed, or shepherd.
“Shepherd” carries the work of tending and feeding within the word itself. The LORD’s address therefore reaches the shepherds through the very care their role names.
ALSO GROWS
rōʿeh: A shepherd or one who tends a flock.
רֹעֶה
This is the singular form of the role addressed here, with tending at its core.
mirʿeh: Pasture or grazing land.
מִרְעֶה
The same root connects the shepherd’s work with the place where the flock is fed.
דְּבַר
devar
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; the noun can mean a word, matter, or thing.
The LORD’s “word” belongs to a root that also names a matter or thing: speech is bound to what is being spoken. The shepherds are addressed by a word with substance, one that bears directly on their tending.
ALSO GROWS
dābār: A word, speech, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The LORD’s word is not empty sound; the root can also name the matter itself.
dibbēr: He spoke or spoke forth.
דִּבֵּר
This verb from the same root shows the word as the act of speaking that reaches the shepherds.
THE PATTERN
Those entrusted with guiding others remain answerable to the word and judgment of God.
Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;THE THREAD
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.The Hebrew words rendered “obey” and “hearken” come from שמע, the same root as “hear” in Ezekiel’s command. That shared root opens the command as a summons to respond to what the LORD says.
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