צֹאן

From the study of Psalm 74:1

Range of meaning

ṣōʾn is a flock of sheep and goats together. marʿît, from rāʿâ ('to graze, shepherd'), means 'pasturing, grazing': the pasture and also the act of feeding the flock. 'The flock of your pasture' is the flock you graze, the flock in your care.

Against the English

'Sheep of your pasture' (BSB, KJV, WEB) is accurate. YLT's 'flock' is a little more exact, since ṣōʾn includes goats. English can hear 'pasture' as just a field, but the Hebrew stresses the shepherd's active feeding.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 79:13 and 95:7 ('we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand'); Ps 100:3; Jer 23:1; Ezek 34:31. Across the ancient Near East kings called themselves shepherds; Hammurabi, for example, calls himself the shepherd of his people in the prologue to his law code. The Asaph psalms use this picture of God often (77:20; 78:52, 70–72; 80:1).

From the study of Psalm 79:13

Range of meaning

'Flock of pasture/pasturing': the flock that belongs to and is fed by a particular shepherd. Mar'it comes from ra'ah, 'to shepherd, graze'.

Against the English

'Sheep of your pasture' is accurate. 'Pasture' can sound like a place only, but the Hebrew also includes the act of shepherding.

Used elsewhere in the period

A set phrase in the psalms of Asaph and others: Ps 74:1 ('why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?'), 95:7, 100:3; Jer 23:1; Ezek 34:31. In the ancient Near East kings were regularly called shepherds: Hammurabi calls himself 're'ûm', 'shepherd'.

From the study of Ezekiel 34:11

Range of meaning

A collective word for small livestock: sheep and goats together, grazed as one mixed flock. It is never 'sheep' alone in the narrow English sense.

Against the English

KJV, WEB, ESV, NIV and NASB say 'sheep'. BSB and YLT say 'flock', which is closer.

How it drifted

English 'sheep' names one species. Translators have long used it for tson because sheep dominate the biblical picture.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 30:32–33 has Jacob sorting the tson into sheep and goats. Ezekiel 34:17 has God judging within 'my flock' between 'rams and male goats'. Royal inscriptions across the ancient Near East call kings 'shepherds' of their people, and the people their flock.