In tracing the southern border of Judah, Good News Translation tries to make the geographical data easier to understand by using modern names (Dead Sea in verse 2 for “Salt Sea”; Mediterranean Sea in verse 4, not “the sea”; compare Revised Standard Version) and by indicating, as much as possible, the directions the border took, from the southern end of the Dead Sea, on the east, as far south as the frontier with Egypt, and ending at the Mediterranean Sea, on the west. All the place-names in verses 1-4 can be located on biblical maps; such maps will help the translator indicate directions in the translated text.

The word families would more accurately be expressed as “clans,” but for many English the word “clan” is not very familiar. Many other languages, however, will have a word equivalent to “clan” which is in current and widespread usage. However, there is another option which the translator may follow: the phrase the families of the tribe of Judah represents an attempt on the part of the Hebrew author to include everyone who was a member of the tribe. The same idea may be expressed either “The people of the tribe of Judah” or “The tribe of Judah.” The focus is not upon the distribution of land to each of the individual clans within the tribe, but rather upon the borders marking the edge of the land which the whole tribe received. Moreover, the phrase a part of may make the statement somewhat confusing to the reader, since the biblical writer apparently assumes that all the territory within the region described was assigned to the tribe of Judah. Therefore verse 1 may be translated, “The tribe of Judah received the land which reached south to the southernmost point of the wilderness of Zin, which was the northern border of Edom.” Or, to allow for a different interpretation of the text, the second half of the verse may be translated, “In the south their territory bordered on the wilderness of Zin, which belonged to Edom.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .