Original Word: מִרְעֶה
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: mir`eh
Pronunciation: meer-eh'
Phonetic Spelling: (meer-eh')
KJV: feeding place, pasture
NASB: pasture, feeding place, pastures
Word Origin: [from H7462 (רָעָה - To shepherd) in the sense of feeding]

1. pasture (the place or the act)
2. also the haunt of wild animals

feeding place, pasture

From ra'ah in the sense of feeding; pasture (the place or the act); also the haunt of wild animals -- feeding place, pasture.

see HEBREW ra'ah

Word Origin
from raah
Definition
a pasturage, pasture
NASB Translation
feeding place (1), pasture (11), pastures (1).

מִרְעֶה noun masculine^{Ezekiel 34:14} pasturage, pasture; — absolute ׳מ Genesis 47:4 +; construct מִרְעֵה Isaiah 34:14; suffix מִרְעֵהוּ Job 39:8, מִעֵיכֶם Ezekiel 34:8; — pasturage, לַצּאֹן Genesis 47:4 (J), compare 1 Chronicles 4:39,41, also Isaiah 32:14; שָׂמֵן וָטוֺב ׳מ Isaiah 32:40, compare (figurative) Ezekiel 34:14 (twice in verse); Ezekiel 34:18a; of cattle Joel 1:18, stag Lamentations 1:6; = pasture, of wild ass Job 39:8; of כְּפִירִים Nahum 2:12 (but read מְעָרָה cave, for מרעה, We Now, "" מָעוֺן); יֶתֶר מִרְעֵיכֶם Ezekiel 34:18b (figurative).

Pasture in the life of God’s covenant people

מִרְעֶה appears most often in narratives that revolve around flocks and herds, the economic backbone of the patriarchs and of many later Israelites. When Jacob’s sons explained their presence in Egypt, they said, “Your servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is severe in Canaan” (Genesis 47:4). Shortage of מִרְעֶה drove the family to Goshen and ultimately set the stage for the Exodus. Centuries later the Simeonites migrated southward “to seek pasture for their flocks” (1 Chronicles 4:39) and settled permanently because “they found rich, good pasture” (1 Chronicles 4:40). In both settings מִרְעֶה frames decisive movements of the covenant community and underscores the Lord’s providential ordering of land and livelihood.

Divine sovereignty over animals and ecology

Job’s hymn to the wild creatures places the untamed donkey “on the range of the mountains as his pasture” (Job 39:8). Here מִרְעֶה marks territory entirely outside human control, celebrating God’s unrestricted rule over creation. At the opposite end of the spectrum Nahum pictures Assyria, once a predatory empire, as a disintegrated “feeding place of the young lions” now deserted (Nahum 2:11). The same term that describes verdant grazing land can serve, in prophetic satire, to expose the emptiness of human power after divine judgment.

Pasture withheld as a sign of judgment

When Israel rejected the Lord, the withholding of מִרְעֶה became a tangible token of curse. Isaiah warned that Jerusalem’s strongholds would turn into “a pasture for flocks” (Isaiah 32:14), an image of urban desolation rather than agrarian blessing. Lamentations mourns that Zion’s leaders have become “like deer that find no pasture” (Lamentations 1:6), and Joel laments, “The herds of cattle wander in confusion because they have no pasture” (Joel 1:18). Scarcity of grazing land mirrors spiritual barrenness; environmental collapse reflects covenant infidelity.

Pasture restored under righteous shepherding

Ezekiel’s oracle against Israel’s corrupt shepherds climaxes in a promise of reversal: “I will feed them in a good pasture… there they will lie down in a good grazing land” (Ezekiel 34:14). In the same chapter the Lord rebukes the self-indulgent leaders: “Is it not enough for you to feed in the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest with your feet?” (Ezekiel 34:18). מִרְעֶה here becomes a litmus test of leadership. True shepherds provide nourishing space; false shepherds consume and ruin it. The passage anticipates the ideal Shepherd-King who will secure lasting rest for His flock.

Spiritual overtones and pastoral ministry

Because sheep thrive only where מִרְעֶה is ample, the term naturally evolved into a metaphor for spiritual nourishment. Psalmists and prophets do not use the noun itself, yet Ezekiel’s vision and its pastoral vocabulary reverberate through later revelation: “He makes me lie down in green pastures” (Psalm 23:2), “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11), and “the Lamb will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water” (Revelation 7:17). In ministry, providing sound doctrine and godly care parallels leading believers to wholesome מִרְעֶה, while neglect or abuse of the flock resembles the trampling condemned in Ezekiel 34.

Eschatological hope

Prophets who portray devastation also foresee flourishing. Isaiah’s promise of the Spirit outpoured (Isaiah 32:15) follows immediately after the city’s degradation into מִרְעֶה, hinting that the very ground of judgment may become the sphere of renewal. The image points toward the messianic age when the Shepherd secures abundant provision and safety (Ezekiel 34:25-31). Thus מִרְעֶה, whether literally lush grassland or symbolically renewed life, forms part of Scripture’s forward-looking tapestry of restoration under God’s reign.

בְּמִרְעֶה־ במרעה־ הַמִּרְעֶ֤ה המרעה וּמִרְעֶ֥ה ומרעה מִרְעֵ֑הוּ מִרְעֵ֥ה מִרְעֵיכֶ֔ם מִרְעֶ֔ה מִרְעֶ֖ה מִרְעֶ֗ה מִרְעֶ֥ה מִרְעֶה֙ מרעה מרעהו מרעיכם bə·mir·‘eh- bəmir‘eh- bemireh ham·mir·‘eh hammir‘eh hammirEh mir‘eh mir‘êh mir‘êhū mir‘êḵem mir·‘ê·hū mir·‘ê·ḵem mir·‘eh mir·‘êh mirEh mirEhu mireiChem ū·mir·‘eh ūmir‘eh umirEhInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts