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)
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 2:18:
Noongar: “The couple were surprised when they heard these things, everything the shepherds said.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “All the people who heard the words of those shepherds were surprised.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And all who heard the news/information of those shepherds, were very amazed/wondered very much.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And everybody who heard the news that the ones pasturing animals had given, they were very much surprised.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “and all who heard were amazed.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “All who heard what those shepherds related were amazed.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
Illustration by Horst Lemke (1922-1985) for the GermanGute Nachricht für Sie – NT68, one of the first editions of the Good News Bible in German of 1968. Lemke was a well-known illustrator who illustrated books by Erich Kästner , Astrid Lindgren and many others.
Barclay Newman, a translator on the teams for both the Good News Bible and the Contemporary English Version, translated passages of the New Testament into English and published them in 2014, “in a publication brief enough to be non-threatening, yet long enough to be taken seriously, and interesting enough to appeal to believers and un-believers alike.” The following is the translation of Luke 2:8-20:
At night in the fields near Bethlehem,
some shepherds were guarding their sheep,
when suddenly an angel came down from the Lord,
and the glory of the Lord flashed all around.
The shepherds were shaken, but the angel encouraged them,
“Don’t be afraid! I have good news for you —
news that will bring happiness to all who hear.
Today a Savior was born for you in King David’s hometown.
This Savior is Christ the Lord, and you’ll recognize him —
he’s a newborn baby on a bed of hay.”
At that very moment a multitude of angels
descended from heaven, singing:
“Praise! Shout praises to God in heaven!
Peace to everyone who pleases God!”
After the angels had returned to heaven,
the shepherds said to each other,
“Let’s go to Bethlehem and see what this is all about.”
They wasted no time, and when they arrived,
Mary and Joseph were there —
and a newborn baby on a bed of hay.
The shepherds told the baby’s parents
what the angel had said about Jesus.
They and everyone else were surprised,
but Mary kept all this in mind
and never stopped wondering what it meant.
With praises to God flowing from their lips,
the shepherds returned to their sheep.
Everything had happened exactly as the angel had said.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
pantes hoi akousantes ‘all who heard,’ without specific object; this is either the shepherds, cf. “them” (Phillips, La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée) or what the shepherds told, cf. “it” (Revised Standard Version, An American Translation, Zürcher Bibel), preferably the latter.
peri tōn lalēthentōn hupo tōn poimenōn pros autous lit. ‘about the things that had been told by the shepherds to them.’
Translation:
Some possibly necessary changes of the sentence structure are, ‘the things the shepherds had told them astonished all people who had heard them’ (Sranan Tongo), ‘all who heard what the shepherds told wondered (at it).’
Wondered at, see on 1.21.
What (or, the things/matter) the shepherds told them, or ‘the words of the shepherds (to them),’ ‘the shepherds’ story’ (Javanese).
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
all who heard it: Some other ways to say all who heard it are:
all the people who heard this news -or-
everyone who heard the shepherds’ words/report
were amazed: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates here as were amazed occurred twice before in Luke (1:21, 1:63). It may also be translated as:
were astonished (NET Bible) -or-
wondered (Revised Standard Version) -or-
was surprised (Contemporary English Version)
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