cattle, livestock

The Hebrew that is translated in English as “livestock” (or “cattle”) is translated in Newari as “living beings brought up in a house” or “living beings cared for in a house” (source: Newari Back Translation). Specifically “cattle” is “cows and oxen.”

In Kwere it is “animals that are being kept.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Joshua 21:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 21:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “They said, ‘God told Moses that we should be given cities for us to live in and where we can graze our animals.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “at Shiloh in Canaan and they spoke like this, "The LORD has given you instructions through Moses to give us cities to live in with space around them for grazing our cattle."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “there at Shilo in the land of Canaan. They said, ‘The LORD commanded through Moises that we (excl.) would-be-given the towns/cities where we (excl.) will-live and pasturelands for our (excl.) animals.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “While Eleazar the Supreme Priest and Joshua and the leaders of all the Israeli tribes were at Shiloh, the leaders of the clans of the tribe of Levi went to them and said, ‘Yahweh commanded Moses that you should give us towns where we can have pasture/fields/grassland for our animals, but you have not done these things yet.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Joshua 21:1 - 21:2

The same people who had been responsible for assigning the western tribes their territory are responsible for assigning the cities to the Levites: Eleazar, Joshua, and the tribal leaders (see 19.51). They use the same process, that of drawing lots, and it is done in the same place, Shiloh (see 18.1).

The reference to the instructions given to Moses is to be found in Numbers 35.1-8, where it is specified that the Levites be assigned the six cities of refuge plus forty-two other cities, a total of forty-eight.

By translating verses 1-2 as a unit, it is possible to remove some of the repetition and reorder certain of the phrases:

• When the people of Israel were camped near the city of Shiloh in the land of Canaan, the leaders of the Levite families went to Eleazar the priest, Joshua, and to the heads of the families of all of the tribes of Israel, and said …

Or the sentence may be divided into two sentences, with the indirect discourse of Good News Translation changed to direct discourse:

• The people of Israel were now camped near the city of Shiloh in the land of Canaan. While they were there, the leaders of the Levite families went to Eleazar the priest, Joshua, and to the heads of the families of all the tribes of Israel, and said, “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Give the Levites cities to live in, and give them the pasture land around the cities for their livestock.’ ”

In some languages the shift to direct discourse for the Lord’s words to Moses may require a time marker or verb tense which indicates that this event had happened some time ago.

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 21:2

21:2a

There is a Hebrew conjunction at the beginning of this verse that is often translated as “and.” It introduces the next event in the story. The Berean Standard Bible leaves this conjunction untranslated.

at Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said to them: in 18:1 the Israelites had set up the tent of meeting at Shiloh. Shiloh was a town twelve miles south of Shechem and was in the tribal territory of Ephraim. It was in the center of the Israelite land west of the Jordan River.

Here is another way to translate this part of the verse:

While they were still at Shiloh town in the land of Canaan, they said

21:2b

The LORD commanded through Moses: The Hebrew clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as The LORD commanded through Moses is more literally “Yahweh commanded by the hand of Moses.” Yahweh had told Moses to give the following command to the Israelites.

that we be given cities in which to live: In Numbers 35:1 Yahweh had told Moses to command the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in. These towns belonged to the various clans but the Levites lived in them.

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

Yahweh told Moses to command you (plur.) to give us towns to live in.
-or-
Yahweh said to Moses, “Command the Israelites to give the Levi people towns to live in.”

21:2c

together with pasturelands for our livestock: The phrase together with pasturelands for our livestock indicates that the Levites should receive the lands around the towns where their livestock could eat grass.

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

and the pasturelands around them for our cattle ⌊to graze there⌋
-or-
and the grasslands near them ⌊to provide grass⌋ for our livestock

General Comment on verses 1–2

In some languages it may be more natural to combine verses 1 and 2 and reorder them. For example:

2a While the Israelites were still at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, 1a the heads of the Levi clan went to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, 1b and to the other heads of the clans of Israel. They said to them, 2b “Yahweh told Moses to command you to give us towns to live in 2c and grasslands for our cattle.”

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