An extended metaphor occurs when someone speaks of a situation as if it were a different situation. He does this in order to effectively describe the first situation by implying that in some important way it is similar to the other. The second situation has multiple **images** of people, things, and actions that represent those in the first situation.
In Psalm 23:1-4, the writer says that God's concern and care for his people can be pictured as the care that a shepherd has for his flock of sheep. Shepherds give sheep what they need, take them to safe places, rescue them, guide them, and protect them. What God does for his people is like these actions.
In Isaiah 5:1-7, Isaiah presents God's disappointment with his people as the disappointment that a farmer would feel if his vineyard only produced bad fruit. Farmers care for their gardens, but if they only produce bad fruit, farmers eventually stop caring for them. Verses 1 through 6 appear to be simply about a farmer and his vineyard, but verse 7 makes it clear that it is about God and his people.
Consider using the same extended metaphor if your readers will understand it in the same way the original readers would have understood it. If not, here are some other strategies:
1. If the target audience would think that the images should be understood literally, translate it as a simile by using "like" or "as." It may be enough to to do this in just the first sentence or two.
1. If the target audience would not know the image, find a way of translating it so they can understand what the image is.
1. If the target audience still would not understand, then state it clearly.
1. If the target audience would think that the images should be understood literally, translate it as a simile by using "like" or "as." It may be enough to to do this in just the first sentence or two.
* **Yahweh is <u>my shepherd</u>; I will lack nothing. He makes <u>me</u> to lie down in green pastures; <u>he leads me</u> beside tranquil water.** (Psalm 23:1-2 ULB)
* Yahweh is <u>like</u> a shepherd to me, so I will lack nothing. <u>Like</u> a shepherd who makes his sheep lie down in green pastures and leads them by peaceful waters, Yahweh helps me to rest peacefully.
* **My well beloved had a <u>vineyard</u> on a very fertile hill. He <u>spaded</u> it, removed the stones, and planted it with an <u>excellent kind of vine</u>. He built <u>a tower</u> in the middle of it, and also built a <u>winepress</u>. He waited for it to produce grapes, but it only produced <u>wild grapes</u>.** (Isaiah 5:1-2 ULB)
* My well beloved had a <u>grapevine garden</u> on a very fertile hill. He <u>dug up the ground</u> and removed the stones, and planted it with <u>the best grapevines</u>. He built a <u>watchtower</u> in the middle of it, and also built <u>a tank where he could crush the juice out of the grapes</u>. He waited for it to produce grapes, but it produced <u>wild grapes that were not good for making wine</u>."
* **For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts <u>is</u> the house of Israel, and the man of Judah his pleasant planting; he waited for justice, but instead, there was killing; for righteousness, but, instead, a shout for help.** (Isaiah 5:7 ULB)
* For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts <u>represents</u> the house of Israel, and the men of Judah <u>are like</u> his pleasant planting; he waited for justice, but instead, there was killing; for righteousness, but, instead, a cry for help.
*<u>So as a farmer stops caring for a grapevine garden that produces bad fruit</u>, <u>Yahweh will stop protecting</u> Israel and Judah, <u>because they do not do what is right</u>; he waited for justice, but instead, there was killing; for righteousness, but, instead, a cry for help.
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