threshing floor

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “threshing floor” in English is translated in Kim with twal or “termite mound” which are used to build threshing floors. (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

See also thresh.

mourn

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is translated as “mourn” or similar in English is translated in Newari as “have one’s heart broken” or “have a bursting heart” (source: Newari Back Translation).

complete verse (Genesis 50:10)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 50:10:

  • Newari: “After they arrived at the wheat-drying threshing floor of Atad near the Jordan, being very sad, they mourned. Joseph mourned his father there for seven days.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “When they reached the place-of-threshing in Atad, near the River of Jordan, they mourned there for Jacob and their weeping was very great. Jose mourned seven days for his father.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They went to the east side of the Jordan River and arrived at Atad. There was a place there where people threshed/beat the grain to separate the wheat from the chaff. There they mourned loudly for Jacob for a long time. Joseph performed mourning ceremonies for his father for seven days.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Jordan

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 )

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Jordan River .

Translation commentary on Genesis 50:10

A threshing floor is a flat open area on the ground where grain was placed to dry after harvesting it, and where it was later beaten or crushed to separate the grain from the husks. The location of Atad, which means “brambles,” is not known. Some translators do not translate as threshing floor of Atad but keep the Hebrew form in full as the name of the place: “Goren-ha-Atad.” As this is not a known place, there is no advantage in transliterating it. Some translations restructure the first part of the verse to separate the name of the place from the additional information about it: “They came to the place Atad on the east side of the Jordan River … This was a place where they used to separate the wheat seeds from the chaff and rubbish.”

Beyond the Jordan: this may mean east of the Jordan river, but since the place is not known, we cannot know how far east. If the destination of the funeral procession was the cave of Machpelah near Hebron (23.19), we must assume they did not follow the caravan route along the sea coast to Beersheba but rather traveled across Sinai to the area east of the Jordan (von Rad).

They lamented there with a very great … lamentation: this is literally “They mourned there a very great and heavy mourning,” which emphasizes the extent of the mourning rituals. Note Good News Translation “loudly for a long time.” Bible en français courant says “There they celebrated a solemn funeral ceremony that was very impressive.” The details of such mourning rituals are not well known, but they probably included loud wailing, chanting dirges, and people beating their bodies. Translators may be able to use the terms that express mourning in their own cultures.

The ceremony that Joseph organized lasted for seven days, which is the period of mourning in Israel (1 Sam 31.13). In the words of one translation, “There Joseph had that ceremony of mourning the dead one, for one week.”

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 .