Shepherd רָעָה

Inspiring Words Knight Vision · May 29, 2025 · 5m

We are in chapter 48 of Genesis with our word for today. רָעָה pasture, tend, graze, feed, drive to pasture, shepherd. It is used 167 times in the Old Testament. The majority of time it is used to refer to a person whose occupation is tending, feeding, and guarding sheep in a pasture. Genesis 4:2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a רֹ֣עֵה keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.

We also see it used in the sense of someone who rules conceived of as a shepherd. In the book of Ezekiel the word is used to describe the leaders of Israel that were failing to fulfill their…