12As shepherds sort out their flocks when they are among scattered sheep, so I will sort out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
“Sheep are known throughout most of the world, even though, as in Central Africa, they are a far cry from the fleecy wool-producing animals of colder climates. Where such animals are known, even by seemingly strange names, e.g. ‘cotton deer’ (Yucateco) or ‘woolly goat’ (Inupiaq), such names should be used. In some instances, one may wish to borrow a name and use a classifier, e.g. ‘an animal called sheep.’ In still other instances translators have used ‘animal which produces wool’, for though people are not acquainted with the animals they are familiar with wool.” (Source: Bratcher / Nida)
In Dëne Súline, it is usually translated as “an evil little caribou.” To avoid the negative connotation, a loan word from the neighboring South Slavey was used. (Source: NCEM, p. 70)
Note that the often-alleged Inuktitut translation of “sheep” with “seal” is an urban myth (source Nida 1947, p. 136).
The Greek, Latin, Ge’ez, and Hebrew that is translated as “shepherd” in English is translated in Kouya as Bhlabhlɛɛ ‘yliyɔzʋnyɔ — ” tender of sheep.”
Philip Saunders (2004, p. 231) explains:
“Then one day they tackled the thorny problem of ‘shepherd’. It was problematic because Kouyas don’t have herdsmen who stay with the sheep all the time. Sheep wander freely round the village and its outskirts, and often a young lad will be detailed to drive sheep to another feeding spot. So the usual Kouya expression meant a ‘driver of sheep’, which would miss the idea of a ‘nurturing’ shepherd. ‘A sheep nurturer’ was possible to say, but it was unnatural in most contexts. The group came up with Bhlabhlɛɛ ‘yliyɔzʋnyɔ which meant ‘a tender of sheep’, that is one who keeps an eye on the sheep to make sure they are all right. All, including the translators, agreed that this was a most satisfactory solution.”
Other translations include:
Chuj: “carer” (there was no single word for “shepherd”) (source: Ronald Ross)
Muna: “sheep guard” (dhagano dhumba) (there was no immediate lexical equivalent) (source: René van den Berg),
Mairasi: “people who took care of domesticated animals” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 34:12:
Kupsabiny: “Like a shepherd grazes his sheep when they are together, I also shall take care of my people in that way. I shall rescue them from every place where they were scattered to on the day when calamity buried/covered the land.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-become like a watcher who looks for his sheep that have-scattered. I will-save/rescue them in all the places where they have-scattered at that time of trouble.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Like a shepherd finds his scattered sheep, I will rescue my people from all the places to which they have been scattered, at a time when things were very gloomy and they experienced disasters.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep: The Hebrew noun for seeks out and the verb for seek out render the same root translated “seek … out” in the previous verse (see the comments there) and carries the same two possible meanings as there. The Hebrew word for flock refers to a large group of sheep in this context. As the footnote in Revised Standard Version indicates, when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad does not follow the Hebrew text. Other translations change the Hebrew here in the same way as Revised Standard Version; for example, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “when some [animals] in his flock have gotten separated,” and Revised English Bible has “when his flock is scattered from him in every direction.” With this reading the whole sentence means God will look for his sheep in the same way that a shepherd goes to look for his sheep when he discovers that some of them have become separated from the flock and have wandered away alone. This reading requires one small change to the Hebrew text. The beginning of this verse in Hebrew reads literally “As a shepherd looks after his flock on the day when he is in the middle of his sheep which have been scattered” (compare New International Version “As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them” and Today’s New International Version “Shepherds look after their scattered flocks when they are with them”). Grammatically this reading is more difficult, but it still makes sense. Either reading is acceptable. A possible model for this whole sentence is “A shepherd goes looking for his sheep when they have become scattered far and wide. In the same way I will search for my sheep.”
And I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness: For rescue see verse 10. All places where they have been scattered refers to the hills, the mountains, and the whole earth in verse 6. The verb scattered may refer to the people wandering off, as sheep do, but it also reminds the reader of the way God scattered the people by sending them into exile in many different countries. A day of clouds and thick darkness refers to the darkness that people traditionally thought accompanied any great disaster (see the comments on 30.3). In 30.3 it refers to a coming day of disaster for Egypt, while here it refers back to the disastrous day on which Jerusalem was destroyed. The Hebrew word for thick darkness refers to really black darkness, when it is very, very dark. A day of clouds and thick darkness renders a strong, vivid Hebrew phrase, which Good News Translation translates well with “that dark, disastrous day.” Renderings such as “a cloudy and dark day” (New Century Version, New King James Version ) and “a time of cloud and fog” (Christian Community Bible) are much too weak. This whole sentence may be rendered “They were scattered to many places on that dark and terrible day, but I will rescue them from all those places.”
Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.