What Does Jeremiah 3:15 Mean in the King James?

And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Jeremiah 3:15 · KJV

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 same Hebrew root names the pastors and their act of feeding, so the verse measures care by the understanding it nourishes.

THE MEANING

You are given shepherds shaped by God’s own heart, and they tend you with knowledge and understanding. Their care nourishes both what you know and how clearly you perceive.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that a spiritual title alone proves care; here, shepherding is visible in whether it feeds knowledge and discernment.

THE ROOT

רֹעִים

ro'im

GROWS FROM

רעה

Tend, shepherd, pasture, feed.

“pastors / feed” in this verse is ro'im. “Pastors” and “feed” are forms of the same root ⁨רעה⁩ (ra’ah, to tend or shepherd). The verse makes care tangible: shepherding means tending you with nourishment for knowing and discernment.

ALSO GROWS

ro'eh: Shepherd; one who tends a flock.

רֹעֶה

This noun names the caretaker by the same root as the action of feeding you.

mir'eh: Pasture; a grazing place.

מִרְעֶה

The branch carries the image of nourishment that supports a flock.

דֵּעָה

de'ah

GROWS FROM

ידע

Know, recognize, perceive.

The word for knowledge is connected to ⁨יָדַע⁩ (yada, to know or perceive). That link lets the shepherd’s nourishment carry lived recognition, not just information.

ALSO GROWS

yada: Know, recognize, perceive.

יָדַע

This verb is the root beneath the verse’s word for knowledge.

da'at: Knowledge; knowing.

דַּעַת

This related noun shows the same root’s movement from knowing to knowledge.

וְהַשְׂכֵּיל

wehaskeil

GROWS FROM

שכל

Understand, discern, act prudently.

The word for understanding comes from a root associated with insight and wise discernment. Joined to knowledge, it shows care feeding not only what you know but your capacity to see clearly.

ALSO GROWS

sekhel: Insight; intelligence.

שֵׂכֶל

This noun names the discernment that the verse pairs with knowledge.

maskil: One who understands or acts wisely.

מַשְׂכִּיל

This branch shows the root’s sense of understanding put into wise perception.

THE PATTERN

Shepherding is care that tends people by feeding and guiding them.

A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 23:1 · KJVThe shepherd image joins care with provision: under this tending, the speaker lacks nothing.

And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

Ezekiel 34:23 · KJVThe shepherd is identified by feeding the flock, just as Jeremiah links shepherding with nourishment.

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;

1 Peter 5:2 · KJVOversight is expressed through feeding and willing care for the flock.

THE THREAD

And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

Ezekiel 34:23 · KJV

The same Hebrew root ⁨רעה⁩ (ra’ah, to tend, shepherd, or feed) names both the shepherd and the act of feeding. Jeremiah adds what that care supplies: knowledge and understanding.

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