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 19:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 19:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “And others were: Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan, they became four cities together with their villages.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Ain, Rimmon, Ether and Ashan — four cities and their villages.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Still in-addition were Ain, Rimon, Eter, and Ashan — 4 towns/cities, including the villages around them,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The land allotted to them also included the four cities of Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan, and their surrounding villages.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Joshua 19:7

In verse 7 Good News Translation (also New English Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible) has Ain and Rimmon, thus making a total of four cities; Revised Standard Version, New American Bible take the Hebrew to mean only one place, “Enrimmon.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project (as in a similar case in 15.32) also prefers the one name, “En-rimmon”; in addition, with one manuscript of the Septuagint (and the Hebrew text in 1 Chr 4.32), the Committee adds “Trachan,” thus making a total of four.In 1 Chr 4.32 Good News Translation Revised Standard Version transliterate the Hebrew Tochen; if a translator follows Hebrew Old Testament Text Project here in Josh 19.7, the form of the name should be the same as in 1 Chr.

The verse may be restructured as follows: “The tribe of Simeon also received four other cities, along with the towns around them. These cities were Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan.”

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 19:7

19:7

Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan—four cities, along with their villages: There is a textual issue in the first part of the word Rimmon (some versions have “En-rimmon”):

(1) En-rimmon is two towns: Ain and Rimmon. This is the way the vowels are written in the Masoretic text.

(Berean Standard Bible, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, English Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition, Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, NET Bible, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation, King James Version)

(2) En-rimmon is one town. This is the reading of the Septuagint.

(Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version)

It is recommended that you follow option (1) along with the majority of English versions. This also agrees with the list of the same towns in Joshua 15:32.

The towns of Ain and Rimmon were in the southern part of Judah’s land. The towns of Ether and Ashan were farther north, in the Shephelah district.

Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:

⌊They also received the towns of⌋ Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan. There were four towns with the villages that surrounded them.
-or-
Their land also included the towns of Ain, Rimmon, Ether and Ashan. The number of these towns was four towns with the villages that were near them.

© 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.