What Does Jeremiah 6:3 Mean in the King James?
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 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 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.
“shepherds / feed” in this verse is ro'im. 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 unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.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
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?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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