cardinal directions

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.” (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.)

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.”

See also cardinal directions / left and right.

cubit

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)

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)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 42:9 - 41:12

Below these chambers was an entrance on the east side: Below these chambers means “on the ground floor of the three-story building of rooms.” Allen says “At the base of these rooms” (similarly Block), and New Revised Standard Version has “At the foot of these chambers” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). An entrance refers to an opening to the walkway on the northern side of the building. On the east side means the opening faced east.

As one enters them from the outer court: This opening provided access to the rooms from the outer courtyard. New Century Version says “so that a person could enter them from the outer courtyard.”

Where the outside wall begins: The entrance to the walkway was at the point where the screening wall (see Ezek 42.7) began. This rendering of verse 10a follows the Septuagint (which reads literally “at the head/beginning of the wall of the courtyard”) instead of the Hebrew, which reads “in the breadth of the wall of the court” (Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). Since the Hebrew text here makes very little sense either with verse 9 or with the rest of verse 10, it is better to make a small change to the Hebrew to make sense of the passage, as in Revised Standard Version.

A model for combining verses 9-10a is:

• At the base of the building of rooms, at the point where the [screening] wall started, was an opening through which a person could go from the outer courtyard into the rooms. This opening faced east.

On the south also: This rendering follows the Septuagint. The Hebrew reads “in the direction toward the east” (Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). In the light of verse 13, which speaks about a building of rooms on both the north and south sides of the Temple, most translations assume that a scribe who copied the Hebrew made a mistake here and accidentally copied the word for “east” from the previous verse instead of the word for “south.” “East” would place the building directly on the site of the Temple itself, which is impossible, but “south” fits the likely plan of the Temple very well. Therefore we recommend that translators follow the Septuagint here (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation), rather than try to make sense of the Hebrew.

If we are right that verses 10b-12 speak about rooms on the south side of the Temple, which were a mirror image of the rooms on the north that Ezekiel has just been describing, it may be acceptable for translators to summarize these verses as follows:

• On the south side of the Temple there was a building of rooms that were a mirror image of [or, exactly the same as] those on the north side. Even the walkway and the entrance on the south side were the same.

The following details prove that the two buildings of rooms were the same:

1. Opposite the yard means the building was next to the restricted area at the back of the Temple itself (see Ezek 42.1).
2. And opposite the building means it was close to the west building at the back of the Temple (see Ezek 42.1).
3. There were chambers with a passage in front of them refers to the half-meter walkway in front of the building (see Ezek 42.4).
4. They were similar to the chambers on the north is literally “[they were] like the appearance of the rooms that were in the direction of the north” (similarly New King James Version ), so Ezekiel states explicitly that these rooms looked the same as the ones to the north.
5. Of the same length and breadth means the dimensions of the two buildings’ rooms were the same.
6. With the same exits … and doors: It is not known how exits are different from doors. However, the Hebrew word rendered doors is a general term for “openings,” so it might include windows. The Hebrew text includes the word “all” with exits (see Revised Standard Version footnote). The word “all” stresses how similar the south rooms were to those on the north.
7. And arrangements: Their “design” (Good News Translation, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, Christian Community Bible), “layout” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “plan” (NJKV, New American Bible) was the same as that of the north building’s rooms.
8. And below the south chambers was an entrance on the east side, where one enters the passage: Revised Standard Version changes the Hebrew text here to make the beginning of verse 12 refer to the opening of the walkway in the same terms as the description in verse 9. Even though the Hebrew of verse 12 is complicated (see the literal rendering below), it draws the comparison in more detail in the following way:

• “And like the doors of the rooms which were on the south side”: The doors to the rooms were on the south side of the south building, just as the doors to the northern block of rooms were on the north side of the building (see Ezek 42.4).

• “[There was] an opening at the head/beginning of the walkway … which faced east, through which a person could enter [the rooms]”: Both buildings of rooms had an eastern-facing opening to a narrow walkway that ran along the side of the building. The opening led into the outer courtyard (see Ezek 42.9).

• “A walkway that fronted onto a matching wall”: Revised Standard Version changes this phrase to read and opposite them was a dividing wall. The Hebrew phrase here adds more detail about the walkway and fits into the previous clause where the three dots are. The “matching wall” is the equivalent to the screening wall on the north side (see Ezek 42.7). However, the Hebrew word rendered “matching” is only found here in the Old Testament, and its meaning is uncertain. We believe “matching” is a good guess.

Those translators who do not wish to summarize verses 10b-12 as suggested above may find the following model useful:

• On the south side [of the Temple] there was a building of rooms, [just like on the north side]. These rooms [also] faced the building and the restricted space [at the back of the Temple]. 11 They had a walkway in front of them. They looked the same as the rooms on the north side. Their dimensions [or, Their length and width] were the same. So were their plans, doors, and openings. 12 Their doors were on the south side of the building, [just like the other building had doors on the north side]. There was a walkway between the building and an equivalent wall [or, fronting onto a matching wall]. There was an opening at the beginning of the walkway through which a person could enter [the rooms]. The opening faced east.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 41:12

The building that was facing the temple yard on the west side was seventy cubits broad …: Ezekiel does not describe this building in any detail, and translators will need to find a very general word to describe it. Ezekiel simply calls it a building (“structure” in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), which was on the west side, that is, behind and west of the Temple and right up against the west wall of the Temple compound. It was also facing the temple yard, that is, it was facing the free space of the inner courtyard that surrounded the Temple (see verse 10, where it says that space was twenty cubits [10 meters] wide). Temple yard is literally “separate space” (King James Version), so some translations say “separate yard” (English Standard Version), “separate area” (New American Standard Bible), “separating courtyard” (New King James Version ), “private area” (New Century Version), “restricted space” (Block), or “restricted area” (Allen). The Hebrew word for temple yard carries the sense of “cut off,” but it is not clear what is cut off. It may mean that the space was cut off from people, that is, people were not allowed to walk there, because it was a “restricted area” (so Block, Allen). Or it may have the sense that this space cut off, or separated, the west building from the back wall of the Most Holy Place (so New King James Version ). Translators may choose either of these meanings, but given the difficulty of knowing exactly what the Hebrew word here means, it is also acceptable to choose a general expression such as “courtyard” (New International Version, New Living Translation, International Children’s Bible) or “open space” (Good News Translation). The building that was facing the temple yard may be rendered “The building that was separated from the Temple,” “The building that faced the area where people were not allowed to walk,” or “The building that faced the open space of the Temple.”

The west building was seventy cubits broad, that is, 35 meters (116 feet) wide, and its length ninety cubits, that is, 45 meters (150 feet) long. These measurements refer to the internal size of the building. Its width went east to west, and its length went north to south. The wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, that is, its wall was 2.5 meters (8 feet) thick all around. The back wall of the west building, the wall that it shared with the outside wall of the compound, was not as thick as the outside wall, which was six cubits (3 meters) thick (see 40.5).

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .