StrongerBible

eder

עֵדֶר

HebrewH5739flock, herd, ...

Appears 38 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 29:2 (2×)Gen 29:3Gen 29:8Gen 30:40Gen 32:16(17) (4×)Gen 32:19(20)Jdg 5:161Sa 17:342Ch 32:28Job 24:2Psa 78:52Pro 27:23Sng 1:7Sng 4:1Sng 4:2Sng 6:5Sng 6:6Isa 17:2Isa 32:14Isa 40:11Jer 6:3Jer 13:17Jer 13:20Jer 31:10Jer 31:24Jer 51:23Ezk 34:12Jol 1:18 (2×)Mic 2:12Mic 5:8(7)Zep 2:14Zec 10:3Mal 1:14
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyEH-dernoun

What eder means

a flock or herd: a group of grazing animals kept and driven together.

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is the ordinary word for a body of livestock moving as one unit: the sheep, goats, or cattle a herdsman waters, pastures, counts, and defends. It names the group, not a single animal, and English Bibles reach for whatever fits the animals in view, so it surfaces as flock, herd, or drove without any change in the underlying word.

Because the picture of a shepherd with his animals was so familiar, the prophets and psalms turn it into a picture of people. A nation, and above all the LORD's own people, becomes a flock: gathered, led, scattered, or searched out by God as a shepherd cares for his animals. This is the same word doing figurative work, not a second word.

So the range runs from the plainest farm scene to some of the tenderest images of God's care. The reader should let the setting decide which is meant: a well in the countryside and a lion carrying off a lamb are literal, while a promise to gather the scattered and lead them home is the shepherd picture applied to a people.

Nuances

1aa literal flock or herd of livestock: sheep, goats, or cattle pastured, watered, and moved together.
Gen 29:2 (2×)Gen 29:3Gen 29:8Gen 30:40Gen 32:16(17) (4×)Gen 32:19(20)Jdg 5:161Sa 17:342Ch 32:28Job 24:2Pro 27:23Sng 1:7
1ba people pictured as a flock: a nation, and especially the LORD's own people, cared for, gathered, or scattered as a shepherd handles his animals.
Psa 78:52Isa 40:11Jer 6:3Jer 13:17Jer 13:20Jer 31:10Ezk 34:12Mic 2:12Zec 10:3

What scholars say about eder

The noun עֵדֶר I denotes a flock or herd of livestock; the standard lexica (BDB; HALOT; DCH) agree on the concrete sense and note its application to sheep, goats, and cattle, together with a well-attested figurative extension to a people, especially Israel under YHWH or a ruler as shepherd (so Jer 13:17, 20; Isa 40:11; Ezek 34:12; Mic 2:12; Zech 10:3). There is no live dispute over the sense. A homograph עֵדֶר used as a personal and place name (Eder) shares the spelling and is treated as a separate lexical entry; it is grouped with this word only for its identical orthography, not its meaning.

Sources

  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. עֵדֶרlexicon
  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. עֵדֶר Ilexicon
  • DCH (Clines, ed.), s.v. עֵדֶרlexicon

All attested forms of עֵדֶר

m p absolute

עֲדָרִים

Gen 29:2, Gen 29:3, Gen 29:8, Gen 30:40, Gen 32:19, Jdg 5:16, 2Ch 32:28, Pro 27:23

m s absolute

עֵדֶר

Gen 32:16, Gen 32:16, Gen 32:16, Gen 32:16, 1Sa 17:34, Job 24:2, Psa 78:52, Jer 13:20

m s construct

עֶדְרוֹ

Isa 40:11, Jer 31:10, Jer 51:23, Ezk 34:12, Zec 10:3, Mal 1:14

m p construct

עֶדְרֵי

Gen 29:2, Sng 1:7, Jol 1:18, Jol 1:18, Mic 5:8

m s construct

עֵדֶר

Sng 4:1, Sng 4:2, Sng 6:5, Sng 6:6, Jer 13:17

m p construct

עֶדְרֵיהֶם

Jer 6:3