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 (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 )

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 6:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 6:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “Rulers/kings and their soldiers will throng to the city
    and they will live/stay by/at that city surrounding (it)
    and then attack (it)
    with each one being in his place/side/area.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “This will-be-surrounded by the commanders and of their soldiers. They will-build their tents around it and they will-position there.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 6:3

For the understanding of shepherds as leaders or rulers, see 2.8; 3.15. Good News Translation completely does away with the imagery by translating “kings”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is able to maintain the imagery by using a noun that means “shepherds of people.” It is possible to use a comparison; for example, “Kings will come with their soldiers, as shepherds come with their sheep….” Bible en français courant is similar: “People come against her, like shepherds with their flocks.” It would seem advisable either to change the imagery entirely or to use a comparison, since in verses 4-5 the shepherds and flocks speak out.

Come against can also be “come on the attack.”

Translators in areas where tents are unknown may say “they will make their camps all around her.”

They shall pasture, each in his place is more literally “they shall pasture each one his hand.” A similar idiom is used in 2Sam 19.43, where “ten shares” of Revised Standard Version is literally “ten hands.” In 2Kgs 11.7 “two divisions” is literally “two hands.” Thus in such a context “hand” has the extended meaning of “share” or “part.” Good News Translation translates each in his place as “wherever he wants” and New Jerusalem Bible “his part.”

Pasture as a verb can be translated as “lead his flocks” or “feed his sheep.” The last line can be, therefore, “Each shepherd will have his own area to graze his sheep.”

Translators who drop the imagery, and use “kings” instead of shepherds, can follow Good News Translation. Others will use a comparison; for example:

• Like shepherds with their flocks, kings will come with their troops against Jerusalem. They will each take an area for their camp to settle the soldiers, like sheep grazing.

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 .