The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Lot” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies “cousin,” referring to the fact that Lot is Abraham’s cousin (see Genesis 11:27). (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
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.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 13:11:
Kankanaey: “So what he chose was the entire lovely plain at Jordan. They left-behind Abram and they went in the direction of the coming-out of the sun.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “So Lot chose the fertile banks of the Jordan for himself. Then he went, looking toward the east. In this way they separated.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “So Lot chose the whole Valley of Jordan in the east. In this way Lot and Abram separated-from-each-other.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “So Lot chose the land in the plain of the Jordan River. He left his uncle, Abram, and moved east.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Hebrew, Greek and Ge’ez that is translated as “Jordan” means “descending (rapidly),” “flowing down.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with the sign for the river bordering Jordan and Israel, along with the general sign for river. (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)
“Jordan river” in Hungarian Sign Language (source )
So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan valley: this views Lot as having made his choice on the basis of what he sees, and placing himself in a situation that later requires the LORD’s intervention to rescue him. Valley translates the same word used in the previous verse. The area Lot chose is the southern part of the Jordan valley, since the view is from near Bethel. See a map of Canaan in the time of the patriarchs. In some translations Lot chose is expressed as a reply to what Abram had said to him; for example, one translation has “So Lot told him [Abram] that he would take all the land in the valley of the Jordan River….”
And Lot journeyed east: for journeyed see 11.2; 12.9. East in Hebrew is literally “in front” or “before.”
As a result of Lot moving to the east, they separated from each other, which is literally “each one from his brother.” Good News Translation gives the expression a better narrative style in English: “That is how the two men parted.”
In some languages the last part of the verse may need to be restructured in order to relate the two actions of journeying and separating to each other; for example, one translation says “… and he left Abram and went to the east. So Lot and Abram didn’t stay together any more.” Another joins this with the first part of verse 12 and says “Lot left that place where the two of them were staying, and went to the east. Abram stayed in the country of Canaan, but Lot moved and settled among the towns of the big plain. That is how they split up.”
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 .
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