And they came to the Valley of Eshcol: The Valley of Eshcol was not far from Hebron. It was known for its productive vineyards and orchards. The Hebrew word for Valley (nachal) refers to a “wadi” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Levine). As A Handbook on Deuteronomy points out at Deut 1.28, a wadi is a ravine or watercourse that is dry during the dry season but that can become a torrent in the rainy season. However, in cultures where wadis do not exist, it will be better to translate the Valley of Eshcol as “the dry river [valley] named Eshcol,” with a footnote explaining what a “wadi” is like.

And cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes: A cluster of grapes (“bunch of grapes” in Good News Bible) is a tightly packed grouping of grapes. In cultures that do not have or know about such bunches of grapes, a branch with a single cluster of grapes may be rendered “a branch full of fruit called ‘grapes’ ” (see also Gen 40.10). A glossary entry will also be needed for grapes due to the great importance of this fruit and its products in the Bible.

And they carried it on a pole between two of them shows how rich and fertile the land was. It took two of the spies to carry the single bunch of grapes on a pole.

They brought also some pomegranates and figs is literally “and some of the pomegranates and some of the figs.” Revised Standard Version adds they brought for naturalness in English. Pomegranates are the fruit of a small tree of the same name. The fruit is a bit smaller than an orange and has a hard red skin, which must be cut open to get at the tightly-packed pockets of seeds inside, each seed enclosed in a little bag of juicy pulp. The end of the fruit has a distinctive flower-like shape. In cultures where pomegranates are unknown, translators may borrow the term from a major language or use a locally known fruit with many seeds and similar in size, shape, and color to the pomegranate. Figs are also the fruit of a tree of the same name. Fig trees are native to western Asia. The trees bear fruit twice a year. The fruit is eaten fresh or it is dried and can be preserved for a long time. Fig trees were very important in Israel especially for their fruit. The fruit was eaten as a staple food and it was also used as medicine. If the fig tree and its fruit are not known, translators will need to borrow a word, or use a descriptive phrase.

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .