1Sam 13:18 – TIPs

Verse: 1Sam 13:18

וְהָרֹ֤אשׁ אֶחָד֙ יִפְנֶ֔ה דֶּ֖רֶךְ בֵּ֣ית חֹר֑וֹן וְהָרֹ֨אשׁ אֶחָ֤ד יִפְנֶה֙ דֶּ֣רֶךְ הַגְּב֔וּל הַנִּשְׁקָ֛ף עַל־גֵּ֥י הַצְּבֹעִ֖ים הַמִּדְבָּֽרָה׃ ס

18another company turned toward Beth-horon, and another company turned toward the mountain that looks down upon the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

Retrieving the verse

The Greek that is translated as “desert” or “wilderness” in English is translated in a number of ways:

Mairasi: “a place where noisiness is cut off (or: stops)” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Muna: pandaso bhalano pr “big barren-field” (source: René van den Berg)
Balinese: “barren field” (source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950 p. 75ff. )
Wantoat: “uninhabited place” (source: Holzhausen 1991, p. 38)
Umiray Dumaget Agta: “where no people dwell” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98)
Shipibo-Conibo: “where no house is” (source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
Ocotlán Zapotec: “large empty place” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Pa’o Karen: “jungle” (denoting a place without any towns, villages and tilled fields) (source: Gordon Luce in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 153f. )
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)

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).

See also wilderness and desolate wilderness.

Company: literally “head,” as in the previous verse.

Beth-horon was located about sixteen kilometers (ten miles) west of Michmash, and the valley of Zeboim was northeast of Jerusalem and southeast of Michmash. The word Zeboim means “hyenas.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “Hyena Valley,” as cited in verse 17, and Chouraqui translates “the valley of the Hyenas.” Fox says “the Ravine of the Hyena.”

The border: the translation of the Hebrew word rendered border is much debated. The Septuagint says “Gabaa,” which seems to be a transliteration of the Hebrew word “height.” Some interpreters have therefore suggested that a slight change be made in the spelling of the Hebrew noun border to create the noun “the height.” This change is the basis for the New Jerusalem Bible translation “and one group made for the high ground overlooking the Valley of the Hyenas” (also Osty-Trinquet). New American Bible also follows the Septuagint and corrects the Hebrew text, but New American Bible understands the Hebrew noun to be the proper noun “Geba”: “and the third took the road for Geba that overlooks the Valley of the Hyenas.”

Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, however, shows that the Hebrew noun rendered the border in both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation can also have the meaning “mountain” or “mountain crest.” There is no need, therefore, to change the Hebrew text, to which Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament gives a {B} rating. So instead of translating as in Revised Standard Version or Good News Translation, it is proper to follow the Revised English Bible rendering of the Hebrew, “and the third towards the range of hills overlooking the valley of Zeboim.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Verse: 1Sam 13:18

desert, wilderness

Translation commentary on 1 Samuel 13:18

American Bible Society