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.
* Make the meaning of the extended metaphor as clear to the target audience as it was to the original audience.
* Do not make the meaning more clear to the target audience than it was to the original audience.
* When someone uses an extended metaphor, the images are an important part of what he is trying to say.
* If the target audience is not familiar with some of the images, you will need to find some way of helping them understand the images so they can understand the whole extended metaphor.
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.
>for righteousness, but, instead, a cry for help. (ULB)
### Translation Strategies
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. See Psalm 23:1-2 as an example:
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