The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Joshua” is translated in Swiss-German Sign Language with a sign that depicts a trumpet of rams’ horn, referring to Joshua 6:4 and following.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 17:10:
Kupsabiny: “When Joshua was fighting the Amalekites as he was told, Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of (a) hill.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Joseph went to fight the Amalekites as Moses had ordered. Then Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “So Josue and-company fought-against the Amaleknon according-to what Moises had-commanded while Moises, Aaron and Hur climbed the mountain/hill.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Bariai: “Therefore Iosua together with the Israel people’s fighting people fought against the Amalek people, as Moses spoke about. And Moses and Aron and Ur arose and went to the top of the hill.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Opo: “Therefore Joshua and his army, they went made war with people of Amalek as Moses said to him, and Moses and Aaron and Hur, they climbed mountaintop.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
English: “So Joshua did what Moses/I told him to do. He took some men to fight against the Amalek people-group. While they were fighting, Aaron, Hur, and Moses/I went up to the top of the hill so that they/we could see the whole battle area.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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:
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).
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
So Joshua did as Moses told him may be understood as “as Moses commanded him” (Good News Translation). New English Bible has “Joshua carried out his orders.” And fought with Amalek is literally “to fight with Amalek,” so it is still not clear by this whether Joshua started fighting the Amalekites as soon as he selected the men or whether he waited until “tomorrow” (verse 9). The infinitive “to fight” may also be understood as and fought, so Good News Translation adds “and he went out to fight” (as in the Septuagint) in order to make clear that Joshua was also following Moses’ orders concerning when to start the attack. The rest of the verse seems to confirm that the orders were to wait until the next day to begin the fighting.
And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up introduces Hur for the first time, as though he was well known. He was evidently another assistant to Moses. (See 24.14.) Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version are probably correct in interpreting the and to mean “while,” suggesting that Joshua and the fighting men did not go out until Moses went up. New American Bible even has “after Moses had climbed the hill,” but this is not clearly implied. It is safe to assume, though, that the fighting did not start until the following day (“tomorrow” in verse 9), and that Moses and his companions went up the hill at the same time that Joshua and his men went out to fight.
A suggested model for this verse is the following:
• Joshua did exactly what Moses told him to do. The next day he and the men he had chosen went out to fight the Amalekites. At the same time Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
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 .
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