desert / wilderness

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The Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Latin 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. )
  • Amri Karbi: “waterless region/place” (source: Philippova 2021, p. 368)
  • 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. )
  • 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)
  • 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)

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.

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Exod 14:11)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding Moses.

complete verse (Exodus 14:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 14:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “Those Israelites said to Moses that, ‘Were there really no graves in Egypt so that you brought us to die here in this wilderness? What is this you have done to us, taking us away from Egypt?” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “They said to Moses,’ Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They said to Moises, ‘Why did- you (sing.) -bring us (excl.) here in the desolate-place in-order-to die? Are there no graves/burial-places in Egipto? Why did you (sing.) bring- us (excl.) -out of Egipto?” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “And then they spoke to Moses like this, ‘What were you doing bringing us (excl.) to come to this desolate area? Did you think that the Isip area didn’t have many tombs, and so you brought us to come die in this desolate area? [It’s] good for us [to have] lived in Isip and died.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “They said to Moses «What is it that you take [this direction] for it us (excl.) this wilderness, [that] we (excl.) might come die for it here? Is it reason that grave be absent [in] Egypt? What is it that you do to us (excl.) like this that you took [this direction] for it us (excl.) out from Egypt?” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Then they said to Moses/me, ‘Is it because there were no places in Egypt where we could be buried that you have brought us here to die in this desert ? Look what you have done to us by bringing us out of Egypt !” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).

In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)


“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff. )


“Moses” in Estonian Sign Language, source: Glossary of the EKNK Toompea kogudus

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Moses .

Translation commentary on Exod 14:11

And they said to Moses introduces what they said when they “complained to Moses” (New American Bible, Contemporary English Version), not what they cried out to Yahweh in verse 10. In many languages it will be helpful to use a word such as “complained” (Contemporary English Version) rather than said as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. What they may have said to Yahweh is not recorded. The direct quotation includes four sarcastic complaints, two in this verse and two in the following verse. They should be considered together. Three are rhetorical questions, and the fourth is a statement. They may need to be rearranged for greater impact. Note that Good News Translation breaks the first question into two and changes the second question into an exclamation.

Is it because there are no graves in Egypt is literally a double negative, “Without no graves in Egypt?” Is it because is implied by an initial question marker. In English a double negative (“without no graves”) makes a positive, but in Hebrew it intensifies the negative. The word for graves simply means a burial place; it does not indicate a specific kind of burial. That you have taken us away is literally “you [singular] took us.” Away is implied, but it may be more natural to say “out here” (Good News Translation). To die in the wilderness uses the general term for dying—it can be a natural death. For wilderness or “desert” (Good News Translation) see 3.1. It may be more natural to interchange these two clauses: “Have you taken us away to die in the wilderness because there are no graves in Egypt?” But using two questions instead of one is easier, and Contemporary English Version is a helpful model: “Wasn’t there enough room in Egypt to bury us? Is that why you brought us out here to die in the desert?”

What have you done to us is literally “what this you did to us?” (Compare this with verse 5, “What have we done?”) In bringing us out of Egypt is literally “to cause us to go out from Egypt.” New American Bible changes this into two questions: “Why did you do this to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt?” And Good News Translation changes this to an exclamation: “Look what you have done by bringing us out of Egypt!” Contemporary English Version simply has “Why did you bring us out of Egypt anyway?”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .