flat land

In Gbaya, the notion of flat, level land (tableland, beach, plain) is emphasized with the ideophone tɔyɛɛ.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

complete verse (Joshua 13:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 13:9:

  • Kupsabiny: “That country started at Aroer which overlooks the valley of Arnon. It includes the city which is in the middle of the valley and the raised area from Medeba to Dibon.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “[It] spread out from Aroer which is above the Arnon gorge and from the village situated in the middle of the gorge. The plains of Medeba up to Dibon were also included.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Their land (starts) from Aroer beside Arnon place-where- water -flows (including now the city/town next-to/besides the place-where-water-flows) going-towards the whole valley from Medeba up-to Dibon.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Joshua 13:9 - 13:10

For the geographical data in verses 9-10, see comments on 12.2. Medeba is about 12 kilometers south of Heshbon, and Dibon is approximately another 22 kilometers further south. Ammon was the land east of the territory conquered by the Israelites.

In the translation of these two verses it may be useful to include some information regarding the geographical directions. For example:

• The territory of these tribes reached as far southeast as the city of Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley. It also included the city in the middle of the Arnon Valley, as well as all of the plateau from the town of Dibon in the south up to the town of Medeba. 10 Their territory went as far east as the border of Ammon. It also included all the cities that King Sihon, the Amorite king, had ruled over from the city of Heshbon.

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Joshua 13:9

13:9a

The area from Aroer: In some languages it may be more natural to add implicit information, for example:

Their land started at Aroer (New Century Version)

Aroer: The term Aroer indicates a town that was along the Arnon River.

on the rim of the Arnon Valley: The clause on the rim of the Arnon Valley indicates that the town of Aroer was on the bank of the Arnon River, in the Arnon River Valley.

Here is another way to translate this clause:

Aroer was on the bank of the Arnon River, in the valley.

Arnon Valley: The term Arnon Valley appeared in 12:1 and you should translate it the same way in both places.

13:9b

along with the city in the middle of the valley: The phrase in the middle of the valley indicates that the town was halfway along the valley. The town is not named.

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

including the town that is halfway along the Arnon River Valley

13:9c

the whole plateau of Medeba: The word plateau indicates a plain. The plateau of Medeba was a high, flat area between the Arnon River in the south and Heshbon in the north. It was 600-700 meters high.

Medeba: The town of Medeba was a Moabite town that the Israelites captured from King Sihon (see Numbers 21:21-32). Today it is the town of Madaba in Jordan, twenty miles south of Amman.

as far as Dibon: The phrase as far as Dibon indicates that the tableland of Medeba stretched from Medeba in the north to Dibon in the south. Dibon was one of the Moabite towns that the Israelites captured. Its name today is Dhiban and it is thirteen miles east of the Dead Sea and three miles north of the Arnon Gorge.

© 2001, 2011, 2020, 2022, 2023 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.