27and in the valley Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of King Sihon of Heshbon, the Jordan and its banks, as far as the lower end of the Sea of Chinnereth, eastward beyond the Jordan.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 13:27:
Kupsabiny: “It included Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth and Zaphon and half/part of the country which Sihon ruled. The western border was the river Jordan and it reached to the Lake of Kinnereth in the north.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Then the cities in the valley of Beth-haram, Beth-Nimrah, Succoth and Zaphon and up to the land formerly ruled by king Sihon of Heshbon. Their western boundary is the Jordan river up to the southern end of the Sea of Galilee.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The land that they received in the Valley of Jordan was Bet Haram, Bet Nimra, Sucot, Zafon, and the remaining of the kingdom of King Sihon of Heshbon. The boundary to the west is the River of Jordan up-to the Lake of Galilea.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Beth-Haram, Beth-Nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon cities in the valley; and the other area that King Sihon had ruled on the east side of the Jordan River. That area extended north to the southern end of Galilee Lake.” (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 )
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.”
The various Greek, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
To avoid confusion, the pronoun it may need to be translated “their territory.” Moreover, Beth Haram, Bethnimrah, Sukkoth, and Zaphon may need to be identified as cities. It is possible also to translate verses 26-27 as a unit:
• Their land included the rest of the territory that had belonged to King Sihon of the Amorites. It extended north from the city of Heshbon and took in the cities of Ramath Mizpeh and Betonim. It continued as far as the city of Mahanaim and over to the borders of Lodebar. In addition, the tribe of Gad received the land along the eastern side of the Jordan River as far north as the southern end of Lake Galilee. This included the cities of Beth Haram, Bethnimrah, Sukkoth, and Zaphon, which were in the Jordan Valley.
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 in the valley: The word valley indicates the Jordan River Valley.
Beth-haram: The term Beth-haram indicates a town in the Jordan River Valley that was eighteen miles southwest of present-day Amman. Today it is identified with Tel Iktanu.
Here is another way to spell the name of this town:
Beth Haram (New International Version, NET Bible)
Beth-nimrah: The term Beth-nimrah indicates a town that was eighteen miles east of present-day Amman. Today it is identified with Tel el-Bleibil.
Here is another way to spell the name of this town:
Beth Nimrah (New International Version, NET Bible)
Succoth: The term Succoth indicates a town in the Jordan River Valley that was north of the Jabbok River.
and Zaphon: The term Zaphon indicates a town in the Jordan River Valley that was north of the Jabbok River.
13:27b
with the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon: The phrase the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon describes the towns in verse 13:27a. These towns and the area surrounding them were the second half of King Sihon’s kingdom. The tribe of Reuben had received the first half.
Here is another way to translate 27a-b:
Joshua gave Gad the towns of Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon which were in the Jordan River Valley. These towns were the other half of the kingdom of King Sihon of Heshbon.
13:27c
the territory on the east side of the Jordan: The clause the territory on the east side of the Jordan indicates that the Jordan River was the western boundary of the land that the tribe of Gad received.
13:27d
up to the edge of the Sea of Chinnereth: The phrase up to the edge of the Sea of Chinnereth indicates that the territory of the tribe of Gad extended north to the southern end of the Sea of Chinnereth.
Sea of Chinnereth: The term Sea of Chinnereth is another name for the Sea of Galilee. It is recommended that you use the term “Lake Galilee” if it is more familiar to your readers. Translate this name the same way as in Joshua 11:2.
Here is another way to translate Sea of Chinnereth:
Sea of Galilee (New Century Version, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation (2004), Good News Translation, God’s Word)
The Revised Standard Version spells this name “Chinneroth”. As with many of these names, you may wish to use a spelling/pronunciation that is used in a nearby or well-known translation from your region.
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