14Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan. But all the warriors among you shall cross over armed before your kindred and shall help them,
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 1:14:
Kupsabiny: “Your wives, your children and your animals can remain in this land. But all the soldiers must go across to the other side (of the river) ahead/in front of (other people) going to assist the other clans” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Your wives, children and herds will remain in the land east of the Jordan that Moses has assigned to you. The fighting men, however, must take their weapons and in order to help other Israelites they must cross over ahead of them.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “the east side of the River of Jordan. Your (plur.) wives, children and groups-of-livestock will-remain here. But your (plur.) soldiers must go-ahead to-cross the Jordan to-help your (plur.) brethren/brothers-and-sisters,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Your wives and your children and your livestock may stay here in this land on the east side of the Jordan River, but all your soldiers must cross the river, ahead of the people of the other tribes. They must take all their weapons with them. You must continue to help your fellow Israelis” (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 )
American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).
In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:
The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).
In Swiss-German Sign Language (and Hungarian Sign Language) it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
In Korean Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the arms held up by Moses to assure the Israelites victory over the Amalekites (see Exodus 17:11).
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
Their wives, children, and livestock will remain on the east side, while the men themselves, armed for battle, will take the lead in crossing over to the west side ahead of their fellow Israelites.
Soldiers translates a phrase “men of valor among you” (Revised Standard Version), “all the warriors among you” (New English Bible, New American Bible), “all of you who are fighting men” (Jerusalem Bible). They were not permanent military men, as the modern term means, but men of twenty years of age or older who were fit for battle, equivalent to a modern militia. They were “citizen soldiers,” not professional warriors. Since the Hebrew word “soldiers” does not refer specifically to military men, one might render “able-bodied men” or “men fit for battle.” The clause may then be translated, “But all of your men who are fit for battle must take their weapons and cross over….”
Armed for battle translates the participle of a verb related to the word “five,” and may designate a battle formation of five groups; one in the lead, one in the rear, one in the middle, and one on each side. Since these men would not have their families and animals with them, they would go first. Although armed for battle does originally come from the word “five,” it is not necessary (and is probably impossible) to reproduce this root meaning in translation. In fact, it is quite likely that even for the author of the book the term no longer held this specific meaning. Soldiers, armed for battle may be rendered “battle-ready men” or “able-bodied men.”
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
and your livestock: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as livestock refers to cows and also to sheep and goats. Use a general word for domestic animals.
may remain in the land that Moses gave you: Joshua gave permission to the men of the two and a half tribes to let their families stay in the land east of the Jordan River. The men must cross the Jordan River to help the other Israelites.
on this side of the Jordan: The phrase on this side of the Jordan refers to the east side of the Jordan River. Joshua spoke as if he were already on the west side of the Jordan.
Here are some ways to translate this part of the verse:
Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you ⌊here⌋ on the east side of the Jordan River -or-
Your wives and children and animals can stay here in the land Moses gave you (Contemporary English Version) -or-
Moses gave you this land east of the Jordan River. Your wives, children and animals may stay here
1:14b
But: This word marks a contrast between the men and their families. The fighting men went with the other tribes across the Jordan River to fight alongside them. Their families remained where they had settled on the east side of the Jordan.
all your mighty men of valor must be armed for battle to cross over ahead of your brothers: The Hebrew clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as all your mighty men of valor must be armed for battle to cross over ahead of your brothers is more literally “but you shall cross over armed before your brothers, all the mighty men of strength.”
all your mighty men of valor: The phrase all your mighty men of valor refers to every Israelite man who was able to fight. The Israelites did not have a professional army. Every Israelite man who was over twenty years old and was fit to fight was considered a soldier. Avoid a term which will make your readers think that this refers to paid soldiers.
Here are some other ways to translate this phraseː
all the men who can fight -or-
all the soldiers -or-
all the fighting men
must be armed for battle to cross over: The phrase must be armed for battle to cross over indicates that the fighting men must cross the Jordan River carrying their weapons. They must be ready to fight.
ahead of your brothers: The phrase ahead of your brothers indicates that the fighting men of the tribes of Reuben and Gad and of half the tribe of Manasseh must cross the Jordan River in front of the other Israelites. All the Israelites were considered to be brothers, or relatives.
your fellow Israelites -or-
your relatives
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
But all your men who are able to fight must carry their weapons and cross the Jordan River in front of their fellow Israelites -or-
but all your fighting men, ready for battle, must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites (New International Version) -or-
But your strong warriors, fully armed, must lead the other tribes across the Jordan (New Living Translation (2004))
1:14c
and help them: The clause help them indicates that the two and a half tribes must help the other Israelites to fight and conquer the land on the west side of the Jordan River.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
You must continue to help them fight -or-
to help them conquer their territory. Stay with them (New Living Translation (2004))
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