complete verse (Deuteronomy 23:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 23:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “A person must have a (pointed) stick among his tools/utensils. Use that stick to dig out latrines where you can excrete and when you are finished cover up your excrements.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Taking a little digging tool, go, and bury the feces.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “(It is a) must that each one of you (plur.) has something-to-dig-with as your (plur.) equipment, so-that when you (plur.) defecate/take-a-poop, you (plur.) dig and cover- it -up.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “When you go to fight against your enemies, carry a stick along with your weapons, in order that when you need to defecate , you can dig a hole with the stick, and then cover up the hole when you have finished defecating.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 23:13

The instructions are clear, the vocabulary is simple.

A stick: the Hebrew word is used in this sense only here; elsewhere it means a pin or a tentpeg. For this kind of task a stick would be used. New International Version “something to dig with” is satisfactory.

Your weapons: or, more generally, “your equipment” (Good News Translation, New International Version, Revised English Bible); New Revised Standard Version has “your utensils.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “gear” is the proper military term in English.

You sit down … dig a hole … turn back and cover up your excrement: in the nature of the case, first the man would dig a hole and then squat over it and relieve himself, after which he would cover up the excrement.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .