{
  "id": "dict_004976",
  "term": "Yahweh Ro'i",
  "slug": "yahweh-roi",
  "letter": "R",
  "entry_type": "divine_title",
  "entry_family": "theological_term",
  "depth_profile": "standard",
  "short_definition": "A Hebrew phrase from Psalm 23:1 meaning \"The LORD is my shepherd,\" describing God’s personal care, guidance, and provision for His people.",
  "simple_one_line": "Yahweh Ro'i means \"the LORD is my shepherd.\"",
  "tooltip_text": "A biblical title drawn from Psalm 23:1, emphasizing God's shepherd-like care.",
  "aliases": [
    "Ro'i"
  ],
  "scripture_references": [],
  "original_language_terms": [],
  "related_entries": [
    "Psalm 23",
    "Shepherd",
    "Good Shepherd",
    "Yahweh",
    "Ezekiel 34"
  ],
  "see_also": [
    "Adonai",
    "Jehovah",
    "John 10",
    "1 Peter 5",
    "Hebrews 13"
  ],
  "lede_intro": "\"Yahweh Ro'i\" is a devotional title based on Psalm 23:1: \"The LORD is my shepherd.\" It presents the Lord as the one who leads, protects, provides for, and lovingly tends His people.",
  "at_a_glance_definition": "A Hebrew phrase meaning \"the LORD is my shepherd.\"\n\nIt is a biblical description of God’s tender, guiding care.",
  "at_a_glance_key_points": [
    "Drawn from Psalm 23:1",
    "Highlights God’s guidance, provision, and protection",
    "Uses shepherd imagery common throughout Scripture",
    "Christians also see this fulfilled in Christ, the Good Shepherd"
  ],
  "description_academic_short": "\"Yahweh Ro'i\" is a Hebrew phrase rooted in Psalm 23:1, usually rendered \"The LORD is my shepherd.\" It expresses God’s covenant care, wise guidance, protection, and provision for His people. In Christian reading, the shepherd theme reaches fuller expression in Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd.",
  "description_academic_full": "\"Yahweh Ro'i\" is a devotional title for God drawn from Psalm 23:1, where David confesses, \"The LORD is my shepherd.\" The phrase is best understood as a biblical description rather than a standalone divine name formula. It emphasizes the Lord’s personal care, faithful guidance, protection, and provision for those who belong to Him. Scripture repeatedly uses shepherd imagery for God’s relationship to His people, and the New Testament applies that image to Jesus Christ in a way consistent with His divine identity and saving work. Because the expression comes from a Psalm rather than from a formal naming ritual or separate revelation of a new name, it should be interpreted directly in its biblical context.",
  "background_biblical_context": "Psalm 23 presents the LORD as the shepherd who leads, restores, protects, and sustains His people. The shepherd image also appears in passages such as Ezekiel 34, where God promises to shepherd His flock and confront false shepherds. In the New Testament, Jesus identifies Himself as the Good Shepherd, fulfilling and embodying this theme.",
  "background_historical_context": "Shepherding was a familiar part of ancient life, so shepherd imagery naturally conveyed care, direction, rescue, and responsibility. In the wider ancient world, rulers could also be described with shepherd language, but Scripture gives the image its fullest meaning by grounding it in God’s covenant faithfulness rather than mere political leadership.",
  "background_jewish_ancient_context": "In the Old Testament, shepherd language is often used for God and for Israel’s leaders. It communicates not only tenderness but also authority and accountability. Psalm 23 fits this biblical pattern by portraying the LORD as the one who personally tends His people.",
  "key_texts_primary": [
    "Psalm 23:1",
    "Ezekiel 34:11-16",
    "John 10:11-16"
  ],
  "key_texts_secondary": [
    "Psalm 80:1",
    "Isaiah 40:11",
    "Hebrews 13:20",
    "1 Peter 2:25",
    "1 Peter 5:4"
  ],
  "original_language_note": "Hebrew: יְהוָה רֹעִי (YHWH ro‘î), meaning \"the LORD is my shepherd.\" The phrase is a biblical title or description from Psalm 23:1, not a separate magical name formula.",
  "theological_significance": "The title highlights God’s covenant care, providential guidance, and protective rule. It also connects the Old Testament shepherd theme to Jesus Christ, the Shepherd and Overseer of His people.",
  "philosophical_explanation": "The phrase presents God as personally involved with His creatures rather than distant or abstract. It combines authority with care: the shepherd leads, and the sheep trust. In biblical terms, true leadership is benevolent, purposeful, and accountable to the good of the flock.",
  "interpretive_cautions": "Do not treat this phrase as a secret power-word or incantation. It is a scriptural description from Psalm 23:1, and its meaning should be read in context. Spellings and transliterations vary, and the expression is better explained as a biblical title than as an independent technical name.",
  "major_views_note": "Some Christian traditions list \"Yahweh Ro'i\" among the names or titles of God; others treat it simply as a descriptive phrase from Psalm 23. The safest approach is to recognize its biblical authority while noting that it is not presented as a formal standalone name in the same way as some other divine titles.",
  "doctrinal_boundaries": "Affirm that God truly shepherds His people and that Jesus fulfills the shepherd theme in the New Testament. Do not detach the phrase from Scripture or use it to support name-based mysticism, superstition, or formulaic claims of spiritual power.",
  "practical_significance": "This title comforts believers with the truth that God knows, leads, protects, and supplies what His people need. It encourages trust, obedience, and rest in God's providential care.",
  "meta_description": "Yahweh Ro'i means \"The LORD is my shepherd,\" a biblical title from Psalm 23:1 describing God’s guidance, protection, and care.",
  "public_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/yahweh-roi/",
  "json_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/data/dictionary/yahweh-roi.json",
  "final_disposition": "PUBLISH_CANONICAL"
}