desert, wilderness

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The Greek that is translated as “desert” or “wilderness” in English is translated in a number of ways:

Note that in Luke 15:4, usually a term is used that denotes pastoral land, such as “eating/grazing-place” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).

See also wilderness and desolate wilderness.

shepherd

The Greek 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.”

In Chuj, the translation is “carer” since there was no single word for “shepherd” (source: Ronald Ross), in Muna, it is dhagano dhumba: “sheep guard” since there was no immediate lexical equivalent (source: René van den Berg), in Mairasi it is translated with “people who took care of domesticated animals” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Noongar as kookendjeriyang-yakina or “sheep worker” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang), and Kwakum as “those-who-monitor-the-livestock” (source: Stacey Hare in this post ).

See also I am the good shepherd.

Translation commentary on Numbers 14:33

And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years means the “children will wander in the wilderness for forty years” (Good News Translation). New Living Translation keeps the imagery here by using a simile as follows: “And your children will be like shepherds, wandering in the wilderness for forty years.” The Hebrew word for shepherds is roʿim, which may indeed refer to the action of a shepherd taking sheep to pasture. However, it may also refer to the action of sheep that are grazing. According to Rashbam, the Jewish medieval commentator, the Israelites are compared to grazing sheep, not to shepherds. Verbs such as “roam” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) and “wander” (Good News Translation, Bijbel in Gewone Taal) seem to be in line with both interpretations.

And shall suffer for your faithlessness is literally “and they will carry [or, lift up] your prostitution.” Revised English Bible renders suffer for as “paying the penalty of,” which fits this context well. The Hebrew word for faithlessness (zenut) usually refers to sexual immorality and describes the actions of a prostitute. Here the idea of prostitution and the unfaithfulness of a spouse is used to describe the way Israelites sinned against God. They were unfaithful to God like an adulterous spouse. In this context the word zenut does not mean that the people had no faith (faithlessness), but that they were not faithful in obeying God. So faithlessness is better rendered “unfaithfulness” (Good News Translation), “rebelliousness,” or “betrayal” (mentioned by Alter in a footnote).

Until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness is literally “until your corpses are finished in the wilderness.” Good News Translation says “until the last one of you dies,” which seems rather flat. New Living Translation provides a better model with “until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness,” and so does Chewa with “until all of you have finished dying in the wilderness.”

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .