Canaan

The term that is transliterated as “Canaan” in English is translated in American Sign Language with the sign loosely referencing the act of hiding/covering one’s face in shame. The association of “shame” with the name “Canaan” comes from Genesis 9, specifically verse 9:25. This sign was adapted from a similar sign in Kenyan Sign Language (see here). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“Canaan” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Canaan in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

inherit land

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “inherit land” in various forms in English is translated in Kwere as “take land to be their own” or similar in these verses when Israel or a part of Israel “inherits” land from God. In Kwere, uhazi or “inheritance,” as in possessions etc. can only be received upon someone’s death. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Acts 13:19)

Following are a number of back-translations of Acts 13:19:

  • Uma: “Seven kings with their people he defeated, so that their land he divided to the Israel people so that they became the owners.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Seven tribes were destroyed by God there in the place/country Kana’an and he gave that place to his people, the tribe of Isra’il, as their inheritance from him.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The inhabitants there in seven kingdoms in the land of Canaan, God overpowered them, and he caused their land to be owned by our ancestors. God accomplished all this in 450 years.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “When they then arrived in Canaan, he caused-to-be-defeated the seven nations that were there so that his people would become-owners of their land. Beginning with their going to Egipto until then, four hundred and fifty years went-by.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “And then he caused to be defeated the seven nations of original inhabitants of Canaan. And he caused that land to be inherited by our anscestors.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God ("give")

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, atae-rare-ru (与えられる) or “give” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Acts 13:19

He destroyed seven nations must be expressed as a causative since God himself did not actually kill the people. Therefore one may translate as “he caused seven nations to be destroyed.” In many languages, however, the term “nation” is more or less equivalent to “tribe” or, more technically, “an ethnic group.”

The relation between land and Canaan is one of identity. In other words, the land was called Canaan; it did not belong to Canaan.

Made … owners of translates a verb which originally meant “to give or leave (something) as an inheritance.” In New Testament times the word had developed the meaning given by the Good News Translation. Moreover, the idea in the Old Testament of “inheritance,” when used of the divine-human relationship, always has the meaning of “(something) which God gives his people”; never does it imply that God died and left something—the primary meaning of “inheritance” in present-day English usage. It may be difficult to translate made his people the owners and one may therefore readily employ “gave the land to his people.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .