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)

complete verse (Exodus 16:35)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 16:35:

  • Kupsabiny: “The Israelites ate manna for forty years until they reached the border of the land of Canaan.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The Israelites ate manna forty years until they reached a land that was settled and they ate manna until they reached in the land of Cannan.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The Israelinhon ate manna for 40 years, until they reached the land which they live-in which is Canaan.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “The Israel people were eating mana for a duration of forty years. And when the forty years were finished, they went and arrived at the boundary marker of the big area of Kenan and so they were living well and eating food from the garden.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “And people of Israel, they ate manna for years which be 40 until they went arrived edge of country Canaan.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “The Israeli people were able to eat manna every day for 40 years, until they came to the border of Canaan land.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 16:35

This verse summarizes the tradition of the manna from the viewpoint of the Israelites after they had settled in the promised land. It explains how Yahweh continued to provide the manna throughout their wilderness wandering. The people of Israel is literally “the sons of Israel.” Ate the manna forty years implies that this was the only food on which they survived. The tradition of the quails, mentioned only in verse 13 and later in Num 11.31-34, suggests that the quails came only occasionally, certainly not every day.

Till they came to a habitable land is literally “until they entered unto a land being dwelt in.” Habitable land has also been translated as “a settled land” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “a cultivated land” (Moffatt), and “a land where they could settle” (Revised English Bible). Good News Translation has interpreted this to mean the land “where they settled,” but the text allows for the possibility of a change of diet in any habitable land they may have passed through before they finally settled in Canaan.

They ate the manna simply repeats the first line, so Good News Translation has condensed the two lines into one: “The Israelites ate manna for the next forty years.” Till they came to the border of the land of Canaan is similar, if not parallel, to the first line and emphasizes the fact that it was the manna that kept them alive.

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 .