sheep

“Sheep are known throughout most of the world, even though, as in Central Africa, they are a far cry from the fleecy wool-producing animals of colder climates. Where such animals are known, even by seemingly strange names, e.g. ‘cotton deer’ (Yucateco) or ‘woolly goat’ (Inupiaq), such names should be used. In some instances, one may wish to borrow a name and use a classifier, e.g. ‘an animal called sheep’. In still other instances translators have used ‘animal which produces wool’, for though people are not acquainted with the animals they are familiar with wool.” (Source: Bratcher / Nida)

In Dëne Súline, it is usually translated as “an evil little caribou.” To avoid the negative connotation, a loan word from the neighboring South Slavey was used. (Source: NCEM, p. 70)

Note that the often-alleged Inuktitut translation of “sheep” with “seal” is an urban myth (source Nida 1947, p. 136).

See also lamb and sheep / lamb.

complete verse (Isaiah 7:25)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 7:25:

  • Kupsabiny: “There is no person who wants to go where he used to farm in the hills, because (he) is afraid of the forest of thornbushes. It will only/just become a place for grazing cows and goats.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “On all the hills that are dug with a hand plough, however, since there are only thorns and nettles, being afraid, they will not go there again. But that place will be a place for cows and bulls to graze, a place for sheep and goats to graze.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “No one will-go anymore to the mountains there that in the-time-past was-being-planted, because this is now thick-brush and filled with thorny bushes. This will- now -be a grazing-field for the cattle and sheep.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “No one will go to where there previously were gardens on fertile hillsides, because briers and thorns will cover those hillsides. They will be areas where only a few cattle and sheep and goats wander around searching for something to eat.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Isaiah 7:25

All the hills which used to be hoed with a hoe refers to the fields that were once cultivated by the farmers. It may be rendered “All the hills that used to be cultivated” or “All the hills where you used to dig.” Good News Translation expresses it well with “All the hills where crops were once planted.”

You will not come there for fear of briers and thorns: This probably does not mean that people will fear the briers and thorns themselves, but that they will be afraid of the wild animals and snakes living there. They will avoid such dangerous places. But this interpretation is slightly incompatible with the second part of the verse: these hills will become peaceful grazing lands. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has a different interpretation for the first half of this verse, one that is hinted at by Bible en français courant in a footnote. According to this view, people cannot visit their former farmland, not because they are afraid of thornbushes, but because these areas have now become grazing lands. Most versions translate verse 25 in the sense that the hills, like the vineyards, are now overgrown with thorns, so people do not go there anymore.

But they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread: Fields that were previously cultivated will now become places where cattle and sheep roam and graze. This change is emphasized by the connector but, which is used to mark the contrast. Contemporary English Version adds “goats” to cattle and sheep here, probably because sheep translates a Hebrew word that refers to both goats and sheep, the grazing animals that form a flock (see verse 21, where a different Hebrew word is used). Translators may use an expression for sheep that is most natural in the present context. The Hebrew word rendered let loose comes from a root meaning “send.” The verb tread may be translated “walk” or “graze.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• As for all the hills that you used to cultivate, you will not go there, because they are full of briers and thorns. Instead those places will be where you let the cattle and sheep graze.

• All the hills you used to cultivate will become full of briers and thorns, so you will no longer go there. That land will now be given over to cattle and sheep.

Examples for the translation of verses 23-25 are:

• 23 At that time large vineyards that had very many good vines worth a great deal of silver [or, money] will become places where only thornbushes grow. 24 Men will go hunting there with bows and arrows. 25 All the hills that used to have nice farmland will also become places where only thornbushes grow. Only cattle and goats will graze there.

• 23 When that day comes, vineyards with a thousand expensive vines each will turn into land overgrown with weeds: you will find only thornbushes there. 24 Men will not enter them anymore except armed with bows and arrows. 25 Even all the hills that used to be cultivated will become places where thornbushes grow, fit only for grazing by cows and sheep.

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 .