village

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “village” or “town” in English is translated in Noongar as karlamaya or “fire (used for “home“) + houses” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Elhomwe it is typically translated as “place.” “Here in Malawi, villages very small, so changed to ‘places,’ since not sure whether biblical reference just to small villages or also to bigger towns. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Joshua 19:6)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 19:6:

  • Kupsabiny: “Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen. Those were thirteen towns together with their villages.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Beth-Lebaoth and Sharuhen — thirteen cities and its villages.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Bet Lebaot, and Sharuhen — 13 towns/cities, including the villages around them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Beth-Lebaoth, and Sharuhen. Altogether there were 13 towns and the surrounding villages.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Joshua 19:1 - 19:6

For the translation of the first sentence of this verse, see the proposed restructuring at 18.11. One may also translate “The second lot fell to the tribe of Simeon.”

Its territory extended into the land assigned to the tribe of Judah is more literally “And its inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the tribe of Judah.” This appears to be a more accurate representation of the text, especially in light of verse 9, which states that the tribe of Simeon was given a part of the territory within the land of Judah, because Judah had been given more land then it needed. Accordingly, one may translate “Its territory lay within the territory of the tribe of Judah.”

In verse 2 the second name in Hebrew is Sheba. This, however, seems like an accidental repetition of the second part of the name of the preceding city, Beersheba, and makes a total of fourteen place-names, whereas verse 6 gives the total as thirteen. Consequently New English Bible (with a footnote that refers to the lack of this name in 1 Chr 4.18) omits Sheba; Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project revise the Hebrew to “Shema” (see 15.26); Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible follow the Masoretic text. It seems best to follow the Masoretic text here.

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 19:6

19:6

Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen—thirteen cities, along with their villages: Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

the town of Beth-lebaoth and the town of Sharuhen. In all there were thirteen towns and the villages that surrounded them.
-or-
and Beth-lebaoth and Sharuhen. The number of all these towns was thirteen, and there were villages that were near them.

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