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.” (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.)

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.

Translation commentary on Joshua 19:25 - 19:31

Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation follow the Masoretic text spelling of the places cited. In verse 28, instead of Masoretic text Ebron, Soggin, citing 1 Chronicles 6.74, prefers “Abdon”; so New English Bible, New American Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project.

Sidon (Revised Standard Version “Sidon the Great”) in verse 28 and Tyre in verse 29 are the two important Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean.

In verse 29 the Masoretic text has “Mehebel” (which could be taken to mean “from Hebel”); the Septuagint favors Mahalab (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation and others); Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers to spell it “Mahlab”. It seems best to follow Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation spelling.

In verse 30, for Ummah of the Masoretic text, the Septuagint has “Acco” (see Judges 1.31), which is modern Acre; Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefer to follow the Septuagint. A translator should feel free to follow the Septuagint here.

Since some of the cities in verses 25-30 are mentioned in geographical relationship to other cities, the passage may be translated similarly to the first proposal for verses 18-23.

It is possible to translate verses 30-31 as a unit, and a proposal for doing so is given below. But first, it should be noted that Good News Translation once again fails to identify the place-names as cities, and this causes confusion, since Zebulun (verse 27) represents a tribe, not a city. To help with this difficulty, verses 25 and 27 may be translated:

• 25 The southern border of its territory led westward from the city of Helkath to…. 27 The eastern border went north from the city of Helkath to the city of Bethdagon. It touched the territory of the tribe of Zebulun …

The last part of verse 29 and all of verses 30-31 may be translated, “It included Mahalab, Achzib, 30-31 Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob, a total of twenty-two cities, along with the towns around them. This entire region was given to the tribe of Asher.”

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 .