the Berasit Hebrew Dictionary

רעימ

'reyim' is built on the root word 'rey' which means “evil”. Because of this, it should be a straightforward process to determine the meaning of 'reyim' as “the evil ones”. In fact, this is the case, at least in the traditional translation of around 33 instances. However, in 39 other instances, the traditional translations inexplicably translate 'reyim' as “shepherds”.

Is it reasonable to conclude that in ancient Hebrew culture, “evil” and “shepherd” were synonyms? This seems extremely unlikely. The reality appears to be quite the opposite, with many shepherds appearing as the protagonist in may of the ancient stories.

how can this discrepancy be resolved?