Joshua

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.


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

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: Joshua .

The Idolatry of the Israelites

Artwork by Sister Marie Claire , SMMI (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India.

For more information about images by Sister Marie Claire and ways to purchase them as lithographs, see here .

For other images of Sister Marie Claire paintings in TIPs, see here.

The following artwork “The Golden Calf” is part of a series of 56 paintings on biblical themes by Kazakh artist Nelly Bube (born 1949):

Copyright by Norwegian Bible Society , used with permission.

For other images of Nelly Bube in TIPs, see here.

complete verse (Exodus 32:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 32:17:

  • Kupsabiny: “And when (he/they) was descending, Joshua heard some people making noise. Then he told Moses that, ‘It seems some people are fighting inside the camp.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “When Joshua heard the loud noise the people made, he said to Moses, ‘it sounds as if there is fighting going on in the camp.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “When Josue heard the noise of the people he said to Moises, ‘It sounds as-if there-is a war in the camp.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “And Iosua heard the noise of the people and them yelling, and so he spoke to Moses like this, ‘The noise of the people is like a fight has happened in the camp.’” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “And Joshua who before climb mountaintop with Moses together, when he had heard [this direction] shout of children of Israel, he say Moses «War be present camp!»” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “Joshua heard the very loud noise of the people shouting. So when he and I got near the camp, Joshua said, ‘There is a noise in the camp that sounds like the noise of a battle!’” (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 32:17

When Joshua heard, literally “And Joshua heard,” may be understood as “Then Joshua heard” (Durham), “Joshua, hearing” (Revised English Bible), or simply “Joshua heard” (Good News Translation). Joshua has not been mentioned since 24.13, but we may assume that he had accompanied Moses part way to the top of the mountain and waited there for him. (See the comment at 24.14.) The noise of the people as they shouted is literally “the sound of the people in its shouting.” (The “its” refers to the people, which is singular in form.) The word “sound” may be understood as noise, “uproar” (Revised English Bible), or “racket” (Durham), but it was evidently the sound of human voices.

He said to Moses indicates that Moses had descended to the place where Joshua was waiting. There is a noise of war in the camp is literally “a sound of fighting in the camp.” Revised English Bible seems more natural, “Listen! There is fighting in the camp,” or one may say “Listen, I hear people fighting each other in the camp.”

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 .