to pasture
ra.ah describes tending or grazing flocks and livestock, and shepherding people when they are portrayed as a flock.
The term most often describes people tending flocks or livestock and animals grazing in pastureland. In passages that call Israel or other people a flock, it also describes the shepherding responsibility of those set over them.
Senses in use
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Tending flocks and grazing livestock · dominant
Qal participles identify people occupied with flocks: David is with his father's flock in 1 Samuel 16:11, Rachel arrives with her father's flock in Genesis 29:9, and Moses is tending Jethro's flock in Exodus 3:1. Imperfect and imperative forms also concern animals grazing or being sent out to graze; in Genesis 29:7 the APB renders the instruction, “water the flock and go, pasture them,” while Isaiah 27:10 depicts a calf that “will graze.”
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Shepherding people portrayed as a flock · common
Where the object is Israel or God's people, the verb marks responsibility for a people described with flock language. In 1 Chronicles 11:2 the Qal imperfect addresses a leader who is to shepherd “my people Israel”; Ezekiel 34:2 contrasts shepherds who were tending themselves with the expected care of the flock, and Ezekiel 34:23 says that one shepherd will pasture them.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB uses “pasturing,” “pasture,” “graze,” and “shepherd” in clauses about flocks, livestock, and Israel. It also calls those engaged with flocks “shepherds” or “keepers of livestock”; these renderings reflect the clauses.