The Hebrew that is typically translated as “all who went in at the gate of his city” in English was translated in Bari as “all who gather together at the gate of his city” because “if we had translated this literally we should have conveyed the opposite meaning, i.e. that it was the country people coming in to market from outside that was intended, instead of the people of the place. So we have used a word meaning ‘to gather together’ in place of ‘went in’, ‘those who gather together’ by implication being the inhabitants of the city.”
The name that is transliterated as “Abraham” in English is translated in the vast majority of sign languages, including American Sign Language with the sign signifying “hold back arm” (referring to Genesis 22:12).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with a sign for that demonstrates his new destiny. Previously, he had been called to wander from his home, and the name “Abram” reflected this movement (see here). The new sign name is in one location and stays there, showing Abraham will be given a land to call his own. At this time, Abraham was in the southern part of Canaan, which is shown on the base arm by the location near the elbow. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Abraham” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
In Tira it is transliterated as Abaram. The choice of this, rather than the widely-known “Ibrahim,” as used in the Tira translation of the Qu’ran, was to offset it against the Muslim transliteration which originates from Arabic. (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Click or tap here to see two short video clips about Abraham (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 23:18:
Newari: “before all the Hittites who were gathered at the city gate.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Therefore became now his Abraham’s the farm of Efron in Macpela, east of Mamre, including the cave and the trees around the field. All the Hithanon who had-gathered there at the gate of the city (were)-witnesses.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “It became Abraham’s property as all the descendants of Heth were listening there at the city gate.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
These two verses are a summary of the purchase episode and contain the details of the verbal contract. They first describe the property purchased, and then state the transfer and the legal witness to the transaction. For clarity verses 17-18 must often be made into shorter sentences.
So the field: So marks these verses as a conclusion or summary. Note Good News Translation “That is how the property….” In some languages the conclusion may be stated, for example, “Well, this is the way Abraham bought….”
Was made over: this translates the opening word in the Hebrew text, which in the context of a purchase has the sense of establishing or confirming the legal transfer of the property; “So it stood, was established, was firm, that….” So Revised English Bible has “became the legal possession of,” and New International Version the rather technical “was deeded to.” In Good News Translation this legal sense is expressed by “It was recognized as the property of.” Examples of how this is handled in other translations are “That is how they legally passed over…,” “They did this in the proper way, and the Hittites who came later knew that…,” and “So the Hittites who were there at that meeting took that [payment] as proof that Ephron had handed over that land….”
Because the vocabulary in verses 17-18 has all been discussed in the other verses, we present here only a model translation for these two verses:
• So this is what Abraham bought from Ephron: He bought the field in the district of Machpelah east of Mamre. The field included the cave on the land and all of the trees on the property. This property was legally made over to Abraham in the presence of all the men meeting in the city square where the Hittites were witnesses.
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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