shepherd

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)
  • Noongar: “sheep worker” (kookendjeriyang-yakina) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
  • Kwakum: “those-who-monitor-the-livestock” (source: Stacey Hare in this post )
  • Cherokee: “deer-watcher” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)

See also I am the good shepherd, complete verse (Psalm 23:1), and sheep / lamb.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Shepherds in the Bible .

complete verse (Jeremiah 25:34)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 25:34:

  • Kupsabiny: “Weep you leaders who take care of my people
    wail and roll around in the dust mourning.
    The days when you will be slaughtered are coming
    and you will be crushed and broken into pieces like clay pots.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You (plur.) leaders/[lit. heads], [you (plur.)] cry loudly and roll in-the dust to show that your (plur.)mourning. For the time has now come to kill you (plur.) like the slaughtering of sheep. You (plur.) will-be-destroyed like a special clay-pot that broke.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You evil leaders, weep and moan!
    You who should take care of my people, fall down and roll in the dust/dirt.
    It is time for you to be slaughtered;
    you will fall down and be shattered like a fragile vase shatters when it falls to the ground.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 25:34

Wail translates the verb first used in 4.8.

Shepherds is used here with the meaning “leaders” (see 3.15); it is translated “shepherds of the people” by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. Lords literally means “mighty ones,” which is the rendering of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. Elsewhere in Jeremiah the word is used in 14.3 (Revised Standard Version “nobles”); 25.35, 36; 30.21 (Revised Standard Version “prince”). You shepherds … you lords of the flock is rendered “you leaders, you shepherds of my people” by Good News Translation.

In ashes has been added translationally in Revised Standard Version following the verb roll (see 6.26, where the words “in ashes” are a part of the Hebrew text). Good News Translation has “roll in the dust” and New Jerusalem Bible “roll on the ground.” As in 6.26, rolling in the dust or in ashes is a sign of mourning. Quite often translators say “roll in the ashes [or, dust] in mourning [or, to show you are in mourning].”

The days of your slaughter and dispersion have come: The days of your slaughter … have come is most often translated “the time for you to be slaughtered has come.” Slaughter (see 11.19) means more than just “being killed”; “being butchered” is closer. Normally people “slaughtered” livestock (such as sheep, taken care of by shepherds) for market. And dispersion represents a word in the Hebrew text which a number of scholars hold to be unintelligible. It is omitted from Good News Translation, New American Bible, Revised English Bible, Zürcher Bibel, and An American Translation. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “you are now in line to be slaughtered! You will be scattered!” while New Jerusalem Bible renders “for your days have come to be slaughtered and to be scattered.” Translators may follow either of these patterns.

Choice rams represents the Septuagint; Hebrew has “a choice vessel,” which is the preference of Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates the last clause of this verse as “You will fall and be shattered like an expensive vessel!” Traduction œcuménique de la Bible combines dispersion and you shall fall: “You will be scattered and fall like precious vessels.” “Vessel” in this context, of course, means a bowl or container.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .