18:12a–d

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost?: Verse 18:12 contains two rhetorical questions. The first one is short, and the second one is long. The short one emphasizes that the second one is certainly true: A man will certainly leave all his sheep to search for one lost one.

Before you begin to translate this verse, carefully consider the best way in your language to translate these two rhetorical questions. There are many possibilities. Here are some possible ways:

• Divide the second (long) rhetorical question into shorter sentences. For example:

What do you think? Suppose a man has 100 sheep and one of them strays. Won’t he leave the 99 sheep in the hills to look for the one that has strayed? (God’s Word)

• Put the first rhetorical question in the middle of the second one. For example:

If a shepherd has one hundred sheep, and one wanders away and is lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to search for the lost one? (New Living Translation (1996))

• Put the first rhetorical question at the end of the verse. For example:

If a man has one hundred sheep, and one strays ⌊and gets lost⌋, will he not leave the ninety-nine others and go into the hills to search for the lost one? What do you think ⌊he will do⌋?

• Combine the two rhetorical questions. For example:

What do you think a man does who has one hundred sheep and one of them gets lost? He will leave the other ninety-nine grazing on the hillside and go and look for the lost sheep. (Good News Translation)

18:12a

What do you think?: This is a rhetorical question. Jesus used this rhetorical question to encourage the disciples to seriously think about what he was going to say. He also used this rhetorical question to emphasize that the next rhetorical question is certainly true.

Here are some other ways to translate this rhetorical question:

What do you think ⌊a man will do⌋…
-or-
What do you think/say ⌊about this⌋?

See also the examples above in the note on 18:12a–d for other ways to translate this rhetorical question.

Jesus used this same question in 17:25c.

you: Here, the pronoun you is plural, so he is speaking to the main group of disciples.

18:12b

If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray: This is the first part of the long rhetorical question. (The actual question is in 18:12c–d.)

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

If a man has a hundred sheep, and ⌊if⌋ one of them has gone astray…
-or-
Suppose a man has 100 sheep and one of them strays. (God’s Word)
-or-
There was a certain man who had one hundred sheep. If one of them strays…

a man: This phrase refers to any shepherd. Jesus did not have a particular person in mind. Instead he just told a little story to make his point.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

a ⌊certain⌋ man
-or-
someone
-or-
a shepherd (New Living Translation (1996))

has a hundred sheep: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as has means “owns” or “possesses.” It indicates that these sheep belong to the man. He is not just a watchman.

hundred: This is a large number, but the actual amount is probably not significant. Some languages do not regularly use numbers this big. If that is the case in your language, you may translate this as:

a lot of sheep

It is also possible to borrow the word for this number from a major language in your area. Or you can use the numeral “100.”

one of them goes astray: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as goes astray means “wanders.” Sheep are animals that wander away from the flock easily.

This verb also implies that the sheep was lost. It could not find its way back to the rest of the sheep.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

one of them strays (God’s Word)
-or-
one wanders away from the rest (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
one wanders away and is lost (New Living Translation (1996))
-or-
one of the sheep gets lost (New Century Version)

18:12c

will he not leave: This part of the rhetorical question has a negative form (will he not leave), but it expects the answer, “Yes, of course.”

Here are some other ways to translate it:

• As a question that expects a “yes” answer. For example:

Will he not leave…?

• As a tag question. For example:

He will leave the ninety-nine, will he not?
-or-
He will leave the ninety-nine, true?

• As a statement of certainty. For example:

He will of course leave
-or-
Surely he will leave

leave: This verb means that the shepherd will temporarily abandon the other sheep. He will permit them to stay on their own while he goes in search of the lost one.

the ninety-nine: This is still a large number, but it is one less than the original number. If your language does not regularly use numbers this big, you might translate it as:

the rest of them

The idea that these are the rest of the “sheep” except for the one that wandered away is implicit in the number. If you need to, you may make that explicit. For example:

the ninety-nine others
-or-
the 99 other sheep

on the hills: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as hills is singular. For example:

on the hillside (Revised English Bible)

In this little story, the sheep are out away from any village and in the mountains/hills. It was normal practice for a shepherd to take a flock of sheep to places like that to find grass for them to eat. Sometimes he would be gone with them for days, weeks, or even months at a time.

This phrase indicates “in a mountain area,” but not necessarily at the top. Translate it in a way that is appropriate to your storytelling style.

18:12d

go out to search for: In Greek, the two verbs that the Berean Standard Bible translates as go out to search for could also be translated as “go and seek.” That is, the shepherd would go to other places in the mountains where the lost sheep might be.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

go and look for (Good News Translation)
-or-
go out to search (New Living Translation (2004))

the one that is lost?: The phrase the one refers to the sheep that went astray.

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

the lost sheep (New Century Version`)

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