What Does Genesis 29:7 Mean in the King James?
And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them.
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
The verse places nourishment ahead of assembly: the sheep can be watered and sent to pasture before the flock is gathered.
THE MEANING
You are inside an unfinished day: the hour is still open, and care can move before everything is gathered. Water is given, then the sheep go out to feed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that care must wait until everyone is gathered or conditions are ideal.
THE ROOT
רְעוּ
re'u
GROWS FROM
רעה
Tend, shepherd, pasture.
The Hebrew word for “feed” belongs to the same root as “shepherd”: tending includes leading a flock toward nourishment. English can separate the shepherd from the feeding, but the root holds them together as one act of care.
ALSO GROWS
ro'eh: Shepherd; one who tends a flock.
רֹעֶה
The person who shepherds carries the same root as the command to feed, joining guidance with provision.
mir'eh: Pasture; a place for grazing.
מִרְעֶה
The root extends from the act of tending to the place where the flock finds nourishment.
הַשְׁקוּ
hashqu
GROWS FROM
שקה
Cause to drink; provide water.
The form here is causative: “make the flock drink.” The Hebrew describes water reaching a living recipient, not merely water being present; the same root describes water brought to nourish the ground and a garden.
ALSO GROWS
ve-hishqah: And watered.
וְהִשְׁקָה
Genesis 2:6 uses this root for water reaching the ground, showing the same direct act of provision.
lehashqot: To water.
לְהַשְׁקוֹת
Genesis 2:10 uses this root for the river’s purpose in watering the garden, linking water with sustained growth.
THE PATTERN
Living need is met through active tending: water, pasture, and guidance come while the flock is still moving.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.THE THREAD
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.“Shepherd” in this verse and “feed” in Genesis 29:7 share רעה (ra’ah), meaning to tend or pasture. The connection reveals feeding as part of what shepherding is: the flock is guided toward what sustains it.
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