11For the north side there were hangings one hundred cubits long; its twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver.
The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek that is translated as “cubit” or into a metric or imperial measurement in English is translated in Kutu, Kwere, and Nyamwezi as makono or “armlength.” Since a cubit is the measurement from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, one armlength (measured from the center of the chest to the fingertips) equals two cubits or roughly 1 meter. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Similarly, in Akoose, the translation is “arm distance.” (Source: Joseph Nkwelle Ngome and Marlie van Rooyen & Jacobus A. Naudé in Communicatio 2009, p. 251ff.)
In Klao it is converted into “hand spans” (app. 6 inches or 12 cm) and “finger spans” (app. 1 inch or 2 cm) (source: Don Slager) and in Bariai into leoa or “fathom,” which comprises the distance from a person’s fingertip to fingertip with arms outstretched, app. 6 feet (source: Bariai Back Translation).
The Hebrew, Latin, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “bronze” in English is translated in Newari as “bell-metal,” since bells are made of bronze in Nepal (source: Newari Back Translation).
The cardinal directions “east” and “west” are easy to translate into Maan here since the language uses “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down.” For “north” the translator had “facing toward the sun rising to the left,” and for “south” she had “facing toward the sun rising to the right.” So the listener had to think hard before knowing what direction was in view when translating “to the north and south, to the east and west.” So, in case all four directions are mentioned, it was shortened by saying simply “all directions.” Manya uses a similar nomenclature for the cardinal directions. (Source: Don Slager)
Likewise, Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) or Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).
Kankanaey is “from the coming-out and the going-away of the sun and the north and the south” (source: Kankanaey back-translation), Northern Emberá “from where the sun comes up, from where it falls, from the looking [left] hand, from the real [right] hand” (source: Charles Mortensen), Amele “from the direction of the sun going up, from the direction of the sun going down, from the north and from the south” (source: John Roberts), Ejamat “look up to see the side where the sun comes from, and the side where it sets, and look on your right side, and on your left” (source: David Frank in this blog post ).
In Lamba, only umutulesuŵa, “where the sun rises” and imbonsi, “where the sun sets” were available as cardinal directions that were not tied to the local area of language speakers (“north” is kumausi — “to the Aushi country” — and “south” kumalenje — “to the Lenje country”). So “north” and “south” were introduced as loanwords, nofu and saufu respectively. The whole phrase is kunofu nakusaufu nakumutulesuŵa nakumbonsi. (Source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff. )
“West” is translated in Tzeltal as “where the sun pours-out” and in Kele as “down-river” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel).
In Morelos Nahuatl, “north” is translated as “from above” and “south” as “from below.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
In Matumbi cardinal directions are defined as in relation to another place. “East” for instance typically is “toward the beach” since the coast is in the eastern direction in Matumbi-speaking areas. “North” and “south” can be defined as above or below another place. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture.
Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”
The concepts of distance that are translated in English with “long,” “wide,” and “high/tall” are translated in Kwere with one word: utali. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 38:11:
Kupsabiny: “He also made the northern side like he made the other side.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “As same they made a hundred cubits long curtain for the north side. And they made twenty-twenty pillars and bronze bases for it. But hooks and ropes were silver.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The curtain on-the north side was-also around 150 feet long, and it connected/hung to-the 20 bronze posts which is also inserted to-the 20 bronze bases. The thing-used-to-connect/hung the curtain was-the silver hooks which is-attached to-the silver rods on the posts.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Bariai: “And the long side of that fence toward the not turned out the same as its opposite side also. Its length amounted to twenty-five fathoms. And they made twenty posts for it together with their twenty bras post-bases to be for the standing-up of the posts. And on each of the fence’s posts, they made silva hooks and silva cross-pieces also.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
Opo: “They make it thus on the left also. They hang clothes so that its width be joint of hand which be 100, make its hanging wood with its planting-hole with metal red, make that which they pound be crooked head, and its beams with gold white.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
English: “They made the same kind of curtains, posts, bases, and hooks for the north side of the courtyard.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
These verses should be translated following the pattern of 27.9-11. (See the comments there.) The following differences should be noted: And he made the court changes the verb to show completed action, and the court should be understood to refer to “the court of the tabernacle.” The word for court, however, as in 27.9, actually refers to the open space around the tabernacle, which Bezalel of course could not make. But it is used here for the hangings of the court, which were the curtains that would mark off the “enclosure” (Good News Translation).
In verse 10 the Hebrew here actually has their pillars instead of “its pillars,” so the textual problem in 27.10 does not occur here. This is also true for their bases. The problem of the dangling phrase of bronze, however, is identical with that in 27.10. Note that New Revised Standard Version revises the structure of Revised Standard Version to make it clear that the pillars were also made of bronze: “its twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze.” Others interpret the phrase to refer only to the bases (New International Version, Revised English Bible). Good News Translation again has “twenty bronze posts in twenty bronze bases,” and Contemporary English Version has “He used twenty bronze posts on bronze stands.” Translators are urged to follow this interpretation. (But see also 26.32, where it is clearly stated that the pillars for holding up the veil of the Most Holy Place were actually of acacia wood and overlaid with gold.)
Verse 11 repeats for the north side what has already been said about the south side, almost word for word. Good News Translation, as in 27.11, has therefore condensed this verse out of consideration for the intended audience. Nothing has been lost except the repetition, which may be important in some languages.
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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