“Navajo (Dinė) distinguishes between a man’s son or daughter and a woman’s son or daughter by the use of different terms for each. So the gender of Zion had to be determined. The problem was settled when a friend called to our attention a number of verses in the Old Testament where Zion is referred to as “she” or “her”, e.g. Ps. 87:5, 48:12, Is. 4:5, 66:8. The term for a woman’s daughter is biché’é, so the “daughter of Zion” became Záiyon biché’é ‘Zion her-daughter’.” (Source: Faye Edgerton in The Bible Translator 1962, p. 25ff. .)
In the English translation by Goldingay (2018) it is translated as Miss Tsiyyon (or: Zion).
Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006: “steppe”
Yakan: “the lonely place” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a land where no people lived” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “the place with no inhabitants” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Matumbi uses various term: lubele (desert, sandy place without water) — used in John 11:54, lupu’ngu’ti (a place where no people live, can be a scrub land, a forest, or a savanna) — used in Mark 1:3 et al.), and mwitu (a forest, a place where wild animals live) — used in Mark 1:13 et al.) (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Chichewa Contemporary translation (2002/2016): chipululu: a place uninhabited by people with thick forest and bush (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
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).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 16:1:
Kupsabiny: “The people of Moab drive their sheep to Jerusalem, driving them from the city of Sela in the desert, who/which have come to support the king of Judah.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “From Sela thither towards the wilderness as a gift for the ruler of the land of the mountain of Jerusalem send a sacrificial lamb.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Those of/from-Moab who fled to Sela, a town in the desolate-place, sent young lambs to the one-reigning in Jerusalem as gift.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “The rulers of Moab will say to each other, ‘We must send some lambs from Sela city as a gift to the ruler of Judah to persuade him to not allow his army to attack us any more. We should send them through the desert to the king.” (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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Before the time of Abraham at least five breeds of sheep had already been developed in Mesopotamia. From mummified remains (that is, preserved dead bodies) and ancient art it is also known that at least two different breeds had reached Egypt by about 2000 B.C. Thus it is likely that the sheep mentioned in the Bible were of more than one breed.
The Hebrew word kar seems to be used of imported foreign sheep and may refer to a special breed but some scholars think it refers to a wether (castrated ram), since this word is never used in the context of sacrifice. This word is also used for a battering ram, that is, a heavy pole suspended on a rope, used in war for breaking down walls. ’Ayil is the word for a ram or adult male sheep, rachel is a breeding ewe or female sheep, and taleh is a very young lamb, probably still unweaned. The remaining Hebrew words refer to sheep in general.
The Greek word probaton is the general word for sheep, or flocks that may include goats. Krios is the Greek word for a ram or male sheep. Pascha is a technical name for the Passover lamb exclusively, and the remaining Greek words all mean lamb. Ovis is the Latin word for sheep.
Click or tap here for the rest of this entry in United Bible Societies’ All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible.
The early Hebrews were nomadic shepherds to whom sheep were the most important domestic animal. While goats eat almost any vegetation, sheep are much more selective about the grasses and plants they eat. This meant that suitable grazing for them was not always easy to find, and shepherds had to keep moving their flocks from place to place. This led to a nomadic lifestyle, with movable tents rather than houses being the normal household shelter. It was not until the occupation of Canaan after the Exodus that the lifestyle of the Israelites changed, and they became settled village-dwelling farmers and fruit growers.
However, even then, most households owned sheep, and some family members would function as shepherds, often living away from home for fairly long periods.
Sheep in the Bible were a source of meat, milk, wool, hides, and horns, and it seems likely that various strains were bred selectively to enhance production of these commodities. Wool is mentioned in the Bible as early as the Mosaic Law, which forbade the weaving of cloth containing both wool and plant fibers. The shearing of sheep is mentioned even earlier, in Genesis 31:19. Wool was in fact the most common and available fiber known to the people of Israel.
There was a very extensive wool trade in biblical times, stretching from Egypt to China. In the Middle East wool was cheaper than cotton or linen, which were the other common fibers. (Silk was known by the time of Solomon, but it was extremely expensive as it was produced in China and handled by numerous traders on its way west.) It would be a mistake to think of all wool at that time as being white, as Genesis 30 indicates quite clearly that there were also dark colored sheep and sheep that had dark and light patches, probably varying combinations of black, white, and brown.
We can be fairly sure that one breed of sheep known to the Israelites was the Fat-tailed Sheep Ovis laticaudata and that its fatty tail is referred to in Exodus 29:22, Leviticus 3:9 et al.
Rams’ horns had a variety of uses. Whole ram horns were used as drinking vessels, jars, and trumpets. But pieces of horn were used as handles for knives and other household implements, and for jewelry such as bracelets and beads. Needles too, and probably also arrow heads, were made from horn, as well as from bone and later from bronze and iron.
Sheep were also very important in Israelite religion. They were a very important element in the sacrificial system and in the traditional religious feasts, especially the Feast of Passover.
Sheep and goats belong to the same general family. They differ in that sheep produce wool, which is a special type of soft hair, among the ordinary hairs on their bodies. A ram’s horns too differ in shape from a goat’s horns, those of a ram curling down in a tight spiral beside its face, with those of a goat curving more gently back towards its shoulders. The sheep of biblical times produced much shorter wool than is common with wool-bearing breeds of today.
The fat-tailed or broad-tailed sheep is a smallish breed usually brown and white with a very broad tail. Like most other breeds of sheep in the Middle East it has large floppy ears.
Sheep are generally fairly timid animals, lacking the self-confidence and adaptability of goats. While goats will spread out in their search for food and then regroup without much difficulty, sheep become very insecure when they are separated from other sheep and tend to stay bunched together. They thus require a lot of shepherding. In the Middle East the method of shepherding involves training the dominant ram to follow the shepherd. The remaining sheep then follow this dominant ram, which often wears a wooden clapper or a bell. As they feed, the sheep usually keep within earshot of this sound. It is likely that this method is centuries old.
In most modern breeds only male sheep have horns, but in most ancient breeds female sheep had short horns too. This made separating sheep from goats in a single flock more difficult than it is today.
Of all animals the sheep was the most important for the Israelite nation. It had great religious, social, and economic importance.
The metaphor of a lamb is used in the New Testament to refer to Christ, with an emphasis on his being a sacrifice for the sin of the world. This is especially the case in John’s gospel and Revelation. In the latter book the metaphor is introduced in a very striking way. In Revelation 5:5 as the writer is mourning the fact that no one can be found to open the scroll, he is comforted by one of the elders who tells him that “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” has triumphed and can thus open the scroll. Then the writer, expecting to see the Lion, sees instead a Lamb that looks as if it has been killed for sacrifice. The remainder of the book is then concerned with describing the triumph of this Lamb over the forces of evil.
In the gospels Jesus also refers to his disciples as “sheep” and “lambs” (Matthew 10:17; John 10:1 et al.).
The metaphor of the shepherd is extended to God himself who is the ultimate “Shepherd of Israel” (Psalms 23:1; 80:1). Then those who are responsible for the nurture, guidance, ruling, and protection of Israel, be it kings, prophets, or priests, are also likened to shepherds (Isaiah 56:11; Jeremiah 23:4; 49:19; Ezekiel 34:2; Zechariah 10:2).
The Messiah is also called a shepherd (Isaiah 40:11), and Jesus refers to himself as “the good shepherd” (John 10:11). In Hebrews 13:20 he is referred to as “the great shepherd of the sheep” and in 1 Peter 2:25 he is called “the Shepherd and Guardian of your lives”.
In languages that have a word for sheep, it is advisable to translate according to the meanings given above. If possible, the feminine forms should be translated as “female lamb” or “female sheep”. In languages in which sheep are not known, a word has usually been coined or borrowed by the time Bible translation begins, and this word should be used. It is not advisable to substitute another locally well-known animal in this case, since doing so negates the ritual and symbolic importance that sheep had for the biblical cultures.
In translating Psalms 23:1 it is extremely important to make sure that the phrase “my shepherd” preserves the relationship intended by the writer and reflects the psalmist’s theme that Yahweh is his benefactor, protector, and guide. There are really two metaphors involved in the opening verse-the caring shepherd (God) and by clear implication, the dependent sheep (the psalmist). In many languages the literal phrase “my shepherd” depicts a wrong relationship, meaning something like “the one who looks after my sheep” or “the one I employ to watch my sheep.” In many African languages unwary translators have produced a rendering that means “The Chief is (nothing more than) my herdsman.” It is often necessary to restructure the whole verse as something like “I am a sheep, and the lord is my shepherd.”
They have sent lambs to the ruler of the land: These opening words of the section are also its first exegetical and translational challenge. They can be interpreted in two ways: either as a statement (Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation) or as a command (New International Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Masoretic Text has a command, which is literally “Send [plural] a lamb ruler of a land.” Revised Standard Version considers the form of the Hebrew verb here to be in the perfect form, so it says have sent. Good News Translation and Revised English Bible agree with this view, but they use the present tense. However, most other translations and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project follow Masoretic Text with an imperative; for example, for these two lines New International Version has “Send lambs as tribute to the ruler of the land.”
In Hebrew “a lamb” is clearly the object of the verb, but the phrase “ruler of a land” could either be the subject, a direct object, an indirect object, or a vocative. Revised English Bible considers it to be the subject, saying “The rulers of the land send a present of lambs” (similarly New English Bible). New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh treats it as a direct object with “Dispatch as messenger The ruler of the land.” Revised Standard Version and many other versions view it as an indirect object by saying the lamb is sent to the ruler of the land. However, the absence in the Hebrew text of a preposition “to” makes this view questionable. It seems best to render it as a vocative, saying “O ruler of the land, send….” With this rendering there is a lack of agreement in number between the singular vocative and the plural imperative. However, Hebrew often switches from singular to plural and back again, especially in poetry. The speaker may also be using the plural imperative out of respect for the ruler he is addressing.
For these two lines New American Bible follows the Septuagint and divides the Hebrew consonants differently, saying “Send them forth, hugging the earth like reptiles.” One Qumran text leaves no space between the Hebrew words, so this different word division is possible, though unlikely.
Lambs (see 1.11) is singular in Hebrew, but this is probably a collective, so the plural rendering is valid in English. It may be necessary to indicate the purpose for sending the lambs; for example, New International Version adds “as tribute” and Good News Translation “as a present.” Moab was famous for its sheep, so it is a very appropriate gift from that region.
If the ruler of the land is treated as an indirect object, it refers to Judah’s king, ruling in Jerusalem (see the last line of the verse). However, we are suggesting that it is a vocative, so it refers to the king of Moab. He is being urged to send a tribute to Judah to enlist its help.
For the first two lines we recommend the following approach: “O ruler of the land [of Moab], send lambs.” Translators should add a footnote to indicate other possible renderings, especially if the churches use a major language translation that differs from this model.
From Sela, by way of the desert: In Hebrew Sela means “rock,” so this might not be a place name but a reference to a rocky area. However, all modern translations consulted treat it as a place name, and the context supports this. Its location within Moab is not known. It is presumably different from the Edomite town of Sela. By way of the desert is literally “toward the desert.” Good News Translation believes this phrase gives the location of Sela, so it says “in the desert” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). However, it is more likely the route for sending the sheep, so a better rendering is “across the desert” (New International Version, New American Bible) or “through the desert.” For desert see the comments on 14.17.
To the mount of the daughter of Zion is a highly poetic reference to Jerusalem as the destination for the gift of lambs (see the comments on 1.8 and 10.32). If it is translated literally, it may be necessary to add a footnote to indicate that the gift is for the king in Jerusalem. Alternatively, in the text we could say “to the king in Jerusalem” (similarly Good News Translation), and have a literal rendering in a footnote.
Suggestions for the translation of this verse are:
• Send lambs as tribute, O ruler of the land [of Moab]; send them from Sela across the desert to Jerusalem, the mount of the daughter of Zion.
• Ruler of the land, send lambs as gifts from the town of Sela through the desert to the mountain of Jerusalem, Zion’s daughter.
Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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