9He also lived to the east as far as the beginning of the desert this side of the Euphrates, because their cattle had multiplied in the land of Gilead.
Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006: “steppe”
Yakan: “the lonely place” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a land where no people lived” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “the place with no inhabitants” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Cherokee: inage or “far away downstream” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
Matumbi uses various term: lubele (desert, sandy place without water) — used in John 11:54, lupu’ngu’ti (a place where no people live, can be a scrub land, a forest, or a savanna) — used in Mark 1:3 et al.), and mwitu (a forest, a place where wild animals live) — used in Mark 1:13 et al.) (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Chichewa Contemporary translation (2002/2016): chipululu: a place uninhabited by people with thick forest and bush (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Adioukrou: loj or “savannah” — “land that is not village, nor forest, nor field (source: Hill 2006)
Isthmus Mixe: “dry country” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Note that in Luke 15:4, usually a term is used that denotes pastoral land, such as “eating/grazing-place,” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Chronicles 5:9:
Kupsabiny: “Those people had many cows in Gilead, So, they came to live in the East in the wilderness that stretched to the river of Euphrates.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Because the number of their cows and oxen increased in Gilead, they occupied an area of the wilderness toward the east of that land. The wilderness spread out to the Euphrates river.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “And because their animals became many there at Gilead, they lived up to the west, beside the desert towards the River Eufrates.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Some of them lived further east, as far as the edge of the desert south of the Euphrates River. They went there because they had a huge amount of cattle, with the result that there was not enough pastureland for them in the Gilead region.” (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.”
He also dwelt to the east … is literally “And to the east he lived….” Also renders the common Hebrew conjunction. The pronoun He refers to the clan of Reuben (see the comments on the previous verse), so some versions correctly say “They” (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). The writer uses this plural pronoun in the next verse. New Century Version has “Bela’s people,” which refers more specifically back to the beginning of the previous verse.
As far as the entrance of the desert this side of the Euphrates: For the entrance of the desert, New Revised Standard Version says more appropriately “the beginning of the desert,” but it is even more natural in English to speak of “the edge of the desert” (New Living Translation, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). Other languages may say “the border of the desert” or even “the end of the desert.” Several versions identify the Euphrates as a river (so Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Reina-Valera revisada, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Peregrino. Instead of this side of the Euphrates, some languages may have to specify the direction because a literal translation would be misleading. Contemporary English Version says “just west of the Euphrates River.” New Century Version has “beside the Euphrates River,” but this rendering is less precise than the original. For this whole phrase New American Bible says “as far as the desert which extends from the Euphrates River.” Bible en français courant is even more helpful with “as far as the edge of the desert which separated their territory from the Euphrates, the river of Babylonia.”
Because their cattle had multiplied in the land of Gilead: This clause explains why the clan of Reuben extended so far to the east. They did it because they had many animals to feed. The Hebrew word translated cattle is a generic term that may refer to a wide variety of domestic animals or, according to the standard Hebrew dictionaries, even other possessions. But in this context the reference is clearly to domestic animals; and the term is sometimes translated “livestock” (New International Version, New American Bible) or “herds” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible). The Hebrew verb translated multiplied has to do with increasing in abundance or becoming more and more numerous. While the Reubenites were in the land of Gilead, the numbers of their livestock grew. For Gilead see 1 Chr 2.22. Contemporary English Version provides a clear model for this clause, saying “They needed this much land because they owned too many cattle to keep them all in Gilead.”
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 .
5:9a They also settled in the east as far as the edge of the desert
To the east, they settled as far as the ⌊entrance⌋ of the desert. -or-
Their east border was the desert. (Easy English Bible)
5:9b that extends to the Euphrates River,
The desert stretches out ⌊from there⌋ to the Euphrates River. -or-
⌊The desert⌋ extends ⌊from there⌋ to the river Euphrates.
5:9c because their livestock had increased in the land of Gilead.
⌊They lived there⌋ because while they were in Gilead, their flocks of animals had become large. -or-
⌊Their land extended that far⌋ because while they were in Gilead ⌊region⌋ , their flocks of animals had become bigger and bigger.
5:9a-c (reordered)
While the Reubenites were in Gilead their herds had gotten bigger and bigger. For this reason, they settled to the east as far as the edge of the desert. That desert stretches ⌊from there⌋ to the Euphrates River. -or-
The Reubenites had large herds in ⌊the region of⌋ Gilead. So they went and occupied the land as far east as the desert that stretches all the way to the Euphrates River.
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