raa · shepherd, feed

What it means

raa (רָעָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “shepherd, feed”.

Shepherd: tend and feed a flock; of animals, graze. Figuratively, lead a people. As a noun, "shepherd".

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To tend a flock, or eat grass.
2. One who looks after sheep; or one who leads a people, like YHWH.
3. To go about in company with someone, treat him as a friend.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To shepherd, to pasture: to lead the flock to graze and look after it; figuratively, to lead a people. BDB: to tend a flock, pasture it; intransitively, to graze; generally, to rule; by extension, to associate with as a friend. The participle is “shepherd”.

• Shepherding the sheep Genesis 37:2Exodus 3:1
• “YHWH {is} my shepherd” Psalms 23:1
• The king who shepherds the people 2 Samuel 5:2Ezekiel 34:23
• Shepherds who feed themselves Ezekiel 34:2
• Keeping company with someone Proverbs 13:20

Historical and cultural background

In 2 Samuel 5:2 the tribes remind David of what YHWH said to him: “You will shepherd my people Israel”; Ezekiel 34 accuses the shepherds of Israel of “feeding themselves” and not the flock.

How we translate it

“Shepherds” 46 times, “shepherd” 43, and forms of “feed” (feed 12, feeds 4…), “pasture” 9 and “graze” (will graze 12, graze 6) for the flock. In Proverbs, the sense of frequent company: “the companion of the senseless” (Proverbs 13:20).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• shepherds ×46
• shepherd ×43
• feed ×12
• will graze ×12
• pasture ×9
• graze ×6
• companion ×4
• feeds ×4
• I shepherded ×2
• fed ×2
• others ×24

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×17
• Exodus×4
• Numbers×2
• Judges×1
• 1 Samuel×6
• 2 Samuel×2
• 1 Kings×1
• 2 Kings×1
• 1 Chronicles×3
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Job×3
• Psalms×8
• Proverbs×6
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Song of Songs×7
• Isaiah×15
• Jeremiah×27
• Ezekiel×32
• Hosea×3
• Amos×2
• Jonah×1
• Micah×5
• Nahum×1
• Zephaniah×3
• Zechariah×12

• Genesis 4:2

  And again she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain was a worker of the ground.

• Genesis 29:7

  He said, “Look, it is still high day; it is not time for the livestock to be gathered. Water the sheep and go, pasture them.”

• Genesis 29:9

  While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with the sheep that belonged to her father, for she was a shepherdess.

• Genesis 30:31

  He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do for me this thing, I will again pasture your flock and keep it.

• Genesis 30:36

  And he put a journey of three days between himself and Jacob, while Jacob was pasturing the rest of the flocks of Laban.

• Genesis 36:24

  These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who found the springs in the wilderness while he was pasturing the donkeys of Zibeon his father.

• Genesis 37:2

  These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a young man with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought bad reports about them to their father.

• Genesis 37:12

  His brothers went to pasture their father’s flock at Shechem.

• Genesis 37:13

  Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” He said to him, “Here I am.”

• Genesis 37:16

  He said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.”

• Genesis 41:2

  And look, from the Nile there came up seven cows, beautiful in appearance and fat in flesh, and they grazed in the reed grass.

• Genesis 41:18

  and look, from the Nile there came up seven cows, fat in flesh and beautiful in form, and they grazed in the reed grass.

• Genesis 46:32

  The men are shepherds of flocks, for they have been men of livestock; and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’

• Genesis 46:34

  you shall say, ‘Your servants have been men of livestock from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd of flocks is an abomination to the Egyptians.”

• Genesis 47:3

  Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds of flocks, both we and our fathers.”

• Genesis 48:15

  He blessed Joseph and said, “The Elohim before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the Elohim who has shepherded me since I came to be until this day,

• Genesis 49:24

  but his bow remained steady, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, from there, the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel,

• Exodus 2:17

  But the shepherds came and drove them away. Then Moses stood up and saved them and watered their flock.

• Exodus 2:19

  They said, “An Egyptian man rescued us from the hand of the shepherds, and he even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

• Exodus 3:1

  Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock beyond the wilderness and came to the mountain of Elohim, to Horeb.

• Exodus 34:3

  No man shall come up with you, and also let no man be seen on all the mountain; not even the flocks and the herds shall graze in front of that mountain.”

• Numbers 14:33

  And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and they shall bear your acts of prostitution until the last of your corpses lies in the wilderness.

• Numbers 27:17

  who will go out before them and who will come in before them, and who will lead them out and who will bring them in, so that the community of YHWH may not be like sheep that have no shepherd.”

• Judges 14:20

  And the wife of Samson became the wife of his companion, who had been a companion to him.

• 1 Samuel 16:11

  Samuel said to Jesse, “Are the young men all here?” He said, “There remains still the youngest, and look, he is pasturing the flock.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit around until he comes here.”

• 1 Samuel 17:15

  And David was going and returning from beside Saul to pasture his father’s flock at Bethlehem.

• 1 Samuel 17:34

  David said to Saul, “Your servant used to be a shepherd for his father with the flock; and when the lion came, or the bear, and carried off a lamb from the drove,

• 1 Samuel 17:40

  He took his staff in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in the bag of the shepherds that was his, in the pouch; and his sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.

• 1 Samuel 25:7

  Now I have heard that you have shearers. Now, the shepherds who are yours were with us; we did not wrong them, and nothing of theirs went missing all the days they were in Carmel.

• 1 Samuel 25:16

  They were a wall around us both by night and by day, all the days we were with them tending the flock.

• 2 Samuel 5:2

  For some time now, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led out and brought in Israel; and YHWH said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be leader over Israel.’”

• 2 Samuel 7:7

  Wherever I have moved about among all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

• 1 Kings 22:17

  He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep that have no shepherd. And YHWH said, ‘These have no masters; let each return to his house in peace.’”

• 2 Kings 10:12

  He got up and came and went to Samaria. He was at Beth-eked of the shepherds on the way,

• 1 Chronicles 11:2

  For some time now, even when Saul was king, you were the one who led out and brought in Israel; and YHWH your Elohim said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people, Israel, and you will be leader over my people Israel.’”

• 1 Chronicles 17:6

  Wherever I have moved about among all Israel, did I speak a word with one of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedars?”’

• 1 Chronicles 27:29

  over the cattle that grazed in Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite; and over the cattle in the valleys was Shaphat son of Adlai;

• 2 Chronicles 18:16

  He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep that have no shepherd. And YHWH said, ‘These have no masters; let each return to his house in peace.’”

• Job 1:14

  and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the female donkeys grazing beside them,

• Job 24:2

  They move boundary markers; they seize a flock and pasture it.

And 124 more times.