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.” 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.”

See also cardinal directions / left and right and people of the East.

complete verse (Jeremiah 1:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 1:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “Then God said to me again, ‘What do you see?’ I said to him, ‘I see a boiling pot towards the North and it has tilted towards where we are.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The LORD asked me again, ‘What else have you (sing.) seen?’ I replied, ‘A clay-pot that is-boiling, and as-if it will-spill from the north.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then Yahweh spoke to me again and said, ‘What do you see now?’
    I replied, ‘I see a pot full of boiling water. It is tipping toward me from the north.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 1:13

This second vision summarizes one of the main features of Jeremiah’s message: God will call down an enemy from the north to punish his people. There is some disagreement among scholars concerning the nature of what Jeremiah saw. Some assume either that it was the vision of a pot floating through the air, coming in the direction of the prophet, or else that it was a magician’s pot brewing poisonous fumes. However, it seems more natural to assume that Jeremiah saw an actual cooking pot (perhaps in his house or in front of his house), and that through this means God communicated to him his message.

Translators should render The word of the LORD came to me a second time with the same expression they used in verse 11, with the addition of “again” or “a second time.” Good News Translation shows that this verse is continuing the narration by beginning with “Then.” This can be helpful in some other languages as well.

Boiling is the interpretation accepted by most translations (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible, Luther 1984, La Bible Pléiade, New International Version), though others interpret the ambiguous Hebrew expression to mean “on a fire, fanned by the wind” (New English Bible; similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, An American Translation). Although either interpretation is possible, in the light of the next verse it would seem that the notion of boiling is uppermost in the prophet’s mind.

It is not always natural to speak of a boiling pot. Some languages would instead indicate that it was a “pot with boiling liquid” or “pot with something boiling in it.” If translation requires more detail in the description of the pot, then it was probably a cooking pot of the wide-mouth variety with two handles. Elsewhere in Jeremiah the word occurs twice in the list of articles taken from the Temple (52.18, 19), where it is used of the container for carrying away the ashes from the altar of burnt offerings (see Exo 27.3).

Facing away from the north is also ambiguous in Hebrew. However, Old Testament scholars tend to see here the picture of a boiling pot tipping so that its contents are about to pour out towards the south. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is very effective in its rendering: “A boiling pot, whose rim is tipped from the north in my direction.” Another way of expressing the picture is “tilting away from the north,” as in New International Version and New English Bible. One other model is “It is a boiling pot tipped south towards Judah.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .