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.’”

Ezekiel 34:5

34:5 They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast. ⁶ 

Ezekiel 34:8

34:8 As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, my sheep have become prey and have become food for all the wild beasts. There was no shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock, but fed themselves and did not feed my sheep,

Matthew 9:36

9:36 When ⁷  he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, ⁸  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 tn As a case of dittography, the MT repeats “and they were scattered” at the end of the verse.

⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁸ 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.