Numbers 27:17

27:17 who will go out before them, and who will come in before them, ¹  and who will lead them out, and who will bring them in, so that ²  the community of the Lord may not be like sheep that have no shepherd.”

Numbers 27:1

Special Inheritance Laws

27:1 ³ Then the daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh of the families of Manasseh, ⁴  the son Joseph came forward. Now these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

Numbers 22:17

22:17 For I will honor you greatly, ⁵  and whatever you tell me I will do. So come, put a curse on this nation for me.’”

Numbers 22:2

22:2 Balak son of Zippor saw all that the Israelites had done to the Amorites.

Numbers 18:16

18:16 And those that must be redeemed you are to redeem when they are a month old, according to your estimation, for five shekels of silver according to the sanctuary shekel (which is twenty gerahs).

Jeremiah 50:6

50:6 “My people have been lost sheep.

Their shepherds ⁶  have allow them to go astray.

They have wandered around in the mountains.

They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another. ⁷ 

They have forgotten their resting place.

Zechariah 10:2

10:2 For the household gods ⁸  have spoken wickedness, the soothsayers have seen a lie, and as for the dreamers, they have disclosed emptiness and give comfort in vain. Therefore the people set out like sheep and become scattered because they have no shepherd. ⁹ 

Matthew 9:36

9:36 When ¹⁰  he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, ¹¹  like sheep without a shepherd.

¹ sn This is probably technical terminology for a military leader (Josh 14:11; 1 Sam 18:13-16; 1 Kgs 3:7; 2 Kgs 11:9). The image of a shepherd can also be military in nature (1 Kgs 22:17).

² tn The Hebrew text has the conjunction with the negated imperfect tense, “and it will not be.” This clause should be subordinated to the preceding to form a result clause, and the imperfect then function as a final imperfect.

³ sn For additional information on this section, see N. H. Snaith, “The Daughters of Zelophehad,” VT 16 (1966): 124-27; and J. Weingreen, “The Case of the Daughters of Zelophehad,” VT 16 (1966): 518-22.

⁴ tc The phrase “of the families of Manasseh” is absent from the Latin Vulgate.

⁵ tn The construction uses the Piel infinitive כַּבֵּד (kabbed) to intensify the verb, which is the Piel imperfect/cohortative אֲכַבֶּדְךָ (’akhabbedkha). The great honor could have been wealth, prestige, or position.

⁶ sn The shepherds are the priests, prophets, and leaders who have led Israel into idolatry (2:8).

⁷ sn The allusion here, if it is not merely a part of the metaphor of the wandering sheep, is to the worship of the false gods on the high hills (2:20, 3:2).

⁸ tn The Hebrew word תְּרָפִים (tÿrafim, “teraphim”) refers to small images used as means of divination and in other occult practices (cf. Gen 31:19, 34-35; 1 Sam 19:13, 16; Hos 3:4). A number of English versions transliterate the Hebrew term (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV) or simply use the generic term “idols” (so KJV, NIV, TEV).

⁹ sn Shepherd is a common OT metaphor for the king (see esp. Jer 2:8; 3:15; 10:21; 23:1-2; 50:6; Ezek 34).

¹⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹¹ tn Or “because they had been bewildered and helpless.” The translational issue is whether the perfect participles are predicate (as in the text) or are pluperfect periphrastic (the alternate translation). If the latter, the implication would seem to be that the crowds had been in such a state until the Great Shepherd arrived.