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 Jeremiah 3:15:
Kupsabiny: “And then I shall give you leaders who obey me, who shall rule you with skill in a wise way.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Then, I will-give you (plur.) leaders/[lit heads] whom I am pleased-with who will-lead you (plur.) with knowledge and understanding.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “If you do that, I will appoint for you leaders with whom I am pleased, leaders who will guide you well because they will know and understand what pleases me.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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 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.
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 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).
Shepherds (see 2.8) is here used in the sense of “rulers” (Good News Translation). It is sometimes necessary to express this as “I will place leaders [or, rulers] over you.”
After my own heart is rendered literally by most translations; Good News Translation interprets the meaning to be “who obey me” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “according to my own choice.” Another common rendering is “whose thinking is like mine” or “who will care for you like I do.”
Feed you with wisdom and understanding continues the image of the shepherd who takes his flock to places where they can eat well. Some translators have understood this verse to mean that the rulers will teach the people knowledge and understanding; but others, and this is more common, understand it to mean that these rulers will care for the people wisely and competently. This is the interpretation followed by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Good News Translation “will rule you with wisdom and understanding.”
The noun translated knowledge (Good News Translation “wisdom”) is found only here in the book of Jeremiah; elsewhere in the Old Testament it is found in 1Sam 2.3; Job 36.4; Psa 73.11; Isa 11.9; 28.9.
Understanding actually translates a verbal form, which is used elsewhere in 9.24 and 20.11. In the 9.24 passage it is again used in parallel with “knowledge,” and so also carries the meaning “understanding.” But its usage in 20.11 is different, where it means “be prosperous” or “succeed.” Thus some have rendered it “competently.” Here New American Bible retains the figure of the shepherd and translates “who will shepherd you wisely and prudently.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “who will rule you with insight and understanding.”
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 .
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