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 25:35)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 25:35:

  • Kupsabiny: “The people who take care of/guard the others have nowhere to flee to
    or also there is no place where leaders can hide.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “There is no place at-all where you (plur.) can flee-to or run-to.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You will not find any place to hide,
    there will be no place to which you can escape.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 25:35

In Hebrew this verse is more literally “And refuge will be destroyed from the shepherds and escape from the mighty ones of the flock.” Since both shepherds and lords of the flock were mentioned in verse 34, Good News Translation translates verse 35 as “There will be no way for you to escape.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “For the shepherds of the people there is no escape.”

If translators want to retain two parallel lines, they can have something such as the following:

• The hiding place of the leaders is destroyed,
and every escape route of the rulers of my people is blocked.

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 .