Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Chronicles 26:18:
Kupsabiny: “Six people were guarding the gate of the West. Four guards were guarding the outer side and two were guarding the inner side.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “And four [guards] stayed on the road that went to the west courtyard and two guards stayed in the courtyard.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “At the west four were-guarding at the road going-up to the temple, and two were-guarding the court-yard.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “At the West gate there were two men who guarded the courtyard and four who guarded the road outside the courtyard.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
According to Anne Garber Kompaoré (in Le Sycomore 3/2009, p. 34ff. ), there are 4 ways to identify cardinal directions:
1. celestial bodies, especially the sun and certain stars
2. geographical landmarks, for example a mountain, sea, or river (depending on its position or the direction in which the water flows) etc.
3. climatic phenomena, such as the wind and the direction from which rain comes
4. bodily reference points, especially front, back, left, and right, in relation to celestial bodies or geographical landmarks
Following are examples of how these are practically implemented by various languages: (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)
Celestial Bodies
East and west are often translated by the rising and the setting of the sun (note that the origin of English and other Indo-European languages is “dawn” for “east” and “evening” [i.e. sun-down] for “west”):
Maan: “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down” (source: Don Slager)
Kankanaey: “from the coming-out of the sun “and “going-away of the sun” (source: Kankanaey back-translation)
Northern Emberá: “from where the sun comes up” and “from where the sun falls” (source: Charles Mortensen)
Ejamat “the side where the sun comes from” and “the side where it sets” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
Tzeltal: “where the sun pours-out” (west) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Northern Ngbandi: “the sun behind the chief’s house” (east — the chief lives traditionally at the eastern side of the village, therefore he does not get the sunlight into his eyes) and “under the sun” (west)
Northwestern Dinka: “earth behind” (east — the place behind the earth, i.e. the area where the sun rises)
Jula: “salt village” (north — because salt comes from the north, from the Sahara Desert) and “kola village” (south — since kola comes from the coastal region to the south) (source: Garber Kompaoré)
Matumbi: “toward the beach” (East) (the coast is in the eastern direction in Matumbi-speaking areas), “north” and “south” can be defined as above or below another place (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Acoli: “right” (of the local White Nile) (north) and “left” (of the White Nile) (south)
Zande: “interior (dry) land” (east); “place-inside-country” (north / south) — Zande, like a number of other languages, including Matengo and Hehe, traditionally only has three cardinal directions.
Belanda Bor: “lower place” (north) and “higher place” (south)
Turkana: “(up)stream” (north) and (down)stream (south)
Mono (DRC): “water place” (south) (source for this and five above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Climatic Phenomena
Shilluk: “opening westwind” (north) and “opening eastwind” (south)
Swahili used to have six directions. In reducing them to four, kusini and kaskazini which used to refer to south-west and north east respectively (the directions from where the two monsoons blow) have become the terms for “south” and north.” (source for this and one above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Bodily Reference Points
Nuer / Burun: “face” and “sun face” respectively (both: east)
Kalenjin: “eye sun” (east) (this and the one above indicate that the sun is “facing” the spectator from its position in the east:
Shilluk: doesn’t use a fixed position of the speaker, instead it has “eye sun morning” for east and “eye sun evening” for west
Mono (DRC): “foot-sun” (east — the start of the sun’s journey)
Burun: “sun leg” (west — the end of the sun’s journey)
Bari: “back” (north — when people are facing south, north is at their back) (source for this and above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Northern Emberá “the looking [left] hand” (north) and “the real [right] hand” (south) (source: Charles Mortensen)
Morelos Nahuatl: “from above” (north) and “from below” (south) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
When all four directions are mentioned, translators tend to avoid listing the four, sometimes verbose terms, and chose solutions like “all directions” (such as in Maan or Manya (source: Don Slager). Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) and Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).
The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture. Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”
And for the parbar on the west there were four at the road and two at the parbar: The meaning of the Hebrew word for parbar is very uncertain. Some modern versions transliterate this word as a noun (so Revised Standard Version) or as a name (so New Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, El libro del Pueblo de Dios, Osty-Trinquet), but we do not recommend transliteration here, since it has no meaning in receptor languages. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch indicates that this is a plaza named “Parbar.” Some interpreters think the Hebrew word refers to a building; for example, New American Bible says “large building,” and Bible en français courant has “annex building” (similarly Nouvelle Bible Segond, La Bible du Semeur, La Bible Pléiade).
But a scroll from Qumran, called the Temple Scroll, has a very similar word that refers to a porch with freestanding pillars or columns on the west side of the Temple. This area of the Temple complex was used for offerings. Therefore several modern versions translate this Hebrew noun for parbar as “colonnade” (New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente renders this Hebrew word “plaza” and states in a footnote that the Hebrew may also refer to an annex of the Temple. New Living Translation and God’s Word say “courtyard.”
The repetition of the word parbar creates a difficulty in making sense of this verse. Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia suggests that the first occurrence of the word is an error and should be omitted (so Knoppers). But the Hebrew may also be translated “as for the pavilion on the west, there were….” Good News Translation most likely expresses the intended meaning of the Masoretic Text for this verse. Revised English Bible is similar with “at the western colonnade there were four at the causeway and two at the colonnade itself.” Since this verse refers to six guards in total, New Living Translation says “Six were assigned each day to the west gate, four to the gateway leading up to the Temple, and two to the courtyard.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
26:18 As for the court on the west, there were four at the highway and two at the court.
Also, four ⌊Levites⌋ served as gatekeepers/doorkeepers for the West Gate. Two ⌊Levites⌋ served as gatekeepers on the road leading up to the temple court in the west. -or-
Similarly, four (4) guards ⌊stood on duty⌋ at the western entrance/gate ⌊each day⌋ . Two (2) guards ⌊stood on duty⌋ at the upper road by the western courtyard ⌊each day⌋ .
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