inherit land

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “inherit land” in various forms in English is translated in Kwere as “take land to be their own” or similar in these verses when Israel or a part of Israel “inherits” land from God. In Kwere, uhazi or “inheritance,” as in possessions etc. can only be received upon someone’s death. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Joshua 13:6)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 13:6:

  • Kupsabiny: “There is also the area which borders west of Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim. The people of Sidon live here. I shall drive out all those people before the people of Israel arrives. You must distribute the country to the people of Israel as I have told you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The people of the hill country of the Sidonians from Lebanon to Mesrephoth-maim,
    "I myself, will drive all of them out from before the Israelites. Distribute that land as inheritance to the Israelites by casting lots, as I have told you.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “and also including the mountains from Lebanon up-to Misrefot Maim, which belongs-to the Sidonhon.
    ‘In your (plur.) attacking, I myself will-drive-out the residents of these lands. You (sing.) are-to-be-sure that these lands will-be-divided/partitioned among the Israelinhon as their inheritance, according-to what I commanded you (sing.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “All the people of the Sidon people-group live in the hilly area from Lebanon to Misrephoth-Maim, but I will force them to leave that area before you Israelis arrive there. Be sure to give that area to the Israeli people when you divide the land among them, like I told you to do.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Joshua 13:6

The Lord promises Joshua that he, the Lord, will give victory to the Israelites, and he commands Joshua to divide the land among the Israelites, that is, among the nine tribes and the half-tribe of West Manasseh, which settled west of the Jordan.

This includes serves merely as a transitional marker in the restructuring of Good News Translation; one could also translate “The territory which you still have to conquer includes.” Revised Standard Version maintains the form of the Hebrew by continuing the sentences begun at verse 2 through the end of this verse. In each language, attention should be given to what must be done in order to divide the lengthy sentence into units that are more easily managed by the reader.

As the people of Israel advance may be translated either “as the people of Israel move into these territories” or “… spread out into these territories.”

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 .