flood

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “flood” in English is translated in the German Luther Bible as Sintflut and the influential Dutch Bibles Statenvertaling and Nieuwe Vertaling as zondvloed. Both terms originally mean “great / permanent flood” but have folk-etymologically been reinterpreted as “sin flood” (“sin” in Dutch is zonde and in German Sünde).

Today these terms are used in either language figuratively as well (“a lot of water” or “a lot”). (Source: Jost Zetzsche)

See also Translation commentary on Genesis 6:17.

family / clan / house

The Hebrew terms that are translated as “family” or “clan” or “house” or similar in English are all translated in Kwere as ng’holo or “clan.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

In the English translation by Goldingay (2018) it is translated as “kin-group.”

See also tribe.

gentiles / nations

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).

Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).

In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also nations.

complete verse (Genesis 10:32)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 10:32:

  • Newari: “These were the descendents of the sons of Noah, line by line. After the flood came, these spread out in the earth as various tribes and ethnic groups.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “These were all the descendants of the children of Noe. They were there in the different nations. Because of them, nations were-built in the whole world after the very severe flood.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “All those groups descended from the sons of Noah. Each group had its own genealogy/record of people’s ancestors and each became a separate ethnic group. Those ethnic groups formed after the flood and spread all around the earth.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 10:32

This verse is the closing statement of the table of nations.

These are the families of the sons of Noah: These points back to all the names in 10.2-29, just as These in verse 1 pointed ahead to the same names. Families or “clans” is better translated here by a general term for groups of human beings or, as Good News Translation says, “peoples.” Speiser translates “groupings of Noah’s descendants.” In this context sons of Noah refers to Noah’s sons and their descendants.

According to their genealogies, in their nations: genealogies refers to the history of the line of descent of an individual, family, clan, tribe, or nation from an original pair of ancestors, and here reckoned only as descended from an original male ancestor. According to … nations means classified or grouped together by common descent and by political groupings. Bible en français courant translates “Such were the clans that came from the sons of Noah, according to their lists of descendants, nation by nation.” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy says “These were the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their lines of descent and their territories.” Good News Translation has reversed the order of genealogies and nations to say “Nation by nation, according to their lines of descent.” We may also translate, for example, “All of these groups of people are the offspring of Noah’s sons. Each had its own line of descent and each its own nation.”

And from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood: these points to the families of the sons of Noah at the beginning of the verse. Good News Translation begins with “After the flood,” and many other languages will find this more natural. Spread abroad translates the same verb used in Gen 10.5. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translates “After the flood they were scattered everywhere and so formed the nations of the world.” New English Bible says “and from them came the separate nations on earth after the flood.” Both of these along with Good News Translation are suitable models for translating.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .