He led them by the way of Sinai and Kadesh-barnea: Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version with “led them to” seem to give the mistaken impression that Sinai and Kadesh Barnea are destinations. They are instead only important places along the way to Canaan. Sinai is a mountain and may be designated as such (so Contemporary English Version). Kadesh-barnea was an oasis in the Judean desert which a traveler would pass on the way from Mount Sinai to Israel.

Drove out all the people of the wilderness: While Revised Standard Version (but not New Revised Standard Version) has God driving the people out, the Greek clearly makes the people of Israel the subject. Consequently this action connects very naturally with what follows in verse 15. Good News Translation appropriately begins a new paragraph with 14b, and continues the sentence quite smoothly into 15. Good News Translation interprets the ambiguous wilderness to mean “the southern part of Canaan,” which is probably correct, although it sacrifices the idea of the country being sparsely populated in order to locate it more precisely.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Judith. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.