1Early in the morning Joshua rose and set out from Shittim with all the Israelites, and they came to the Jordan. They camped there before crossing over.
The Hebrew in Hosea 5:2 that is translated in various ways in English translations (see here ), including “sin,” “slaughter,” “deceitfulness,” “rebel,” and “Shittim” as a place name (see Numbers 25:1, 33:49, Joshua 2:21, 3:1, Joel 3:18, and Micah 6:5 for other references to the place name), is translated by the Good News Translation and the New Living Translation as “Acacia City (or: Valley).” “Shittim” is a word for the Acacia tree and the translators chose “Acacia” since “Shittim,” especially as part of “pit dug deep in Shittim” or similar resembles a rude expression in English, especially when read aloud. (Source: de Blois / Dorn / van Steenbergen / Thompson, 2020)
In Gbaya, the notion of early morning is emphasized with the ideophone sút as in the referenced verses.
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 3:1:
Kupsabiny: “The next morning at sunrise Joshua and all the people of Israel left from Shittim and went to the river Jordan. They stayed there before crossing.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Early in the morning Joshua, and, with the Israelites, left Shittim and came to the bank of the Jordan. Before crossing over the Jordan, they camped there.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Now, very early in the morning, Josue and all the Israelinhon rose-up. They left Shitim and went to the River of Jordan. They camped there a-while before they crossed-over.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Joshua and all the other Israelis got up early the next morning. They left their camp at Acacia and went down to the Jordan River. They camped there for two nights.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The Hebrew, Greek and Ge’ez that is translated as “Jordan” means “descending (rapidly),” “flowing down.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with the sign for the river bordering Jordan and Israel, along with the general sign for river. (Source: Jenjelvi Biblia and HSL Bible Translation Group)
“Jordan river” in Hungarian Sign Language (source )
The next morning, after the two spies return to camp, the Israelites leave the camp at Acacia (see 2.1).
In Hebrew the verb “got up” is singular, with Joshua as the subject, while the other verbs (left … went … camped) are plural, including all the people of Israel. However, the use of a singular verb, later followed by a larger group of subjects, is a typical Hebraism and is not to be imitated in translation. For example, in the New Testament one frequently encounters a structure such as “Jesus left, and his disciples,” the meaning of which is “Jesus and his disciples left” or “Jesus left with his disciples.” It is obvious that all the Israelites did get up (unless everyone else except Joshua had stayed up all night!), and in many languages this information must be included.
The verb rendered left the camp technically means “broke camp,” and the clause may then be rendered “moved their camp from Acacia.” Translators should be careful not to imply that the people of Israel were merely going outside their camp. This information does, of course, become clear later in the verse, but the possibility of any misunderstanding should be avoided.
While waiting to cross it translates the Hebrew “before they crossed over.” It is also possible to leave this information implicit and render the last clause of this verse as a separate sentence: “There they set up camp.” The entire verse may easily be broken into several units. For example, “The next day Joshua and all the people of Israel got up early. They left the camp at Acacia and traveled west to the Jordan River. There they set up camp and waited until it was time to cross the river.”
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 .
Section 3:1-17 The Israelites crossed the Jordan River
The Israelites waited three days beside the Jordan and then crossed the river. The priests carried the ark and led the way. As soon as the priests stepped into the river, the water stopped flowing, and everyone was able to cross the river on dry ground.
Paragraph 3:1-4
The Israelites left Shittim to go near the Jordan River, and set up camp there. Three days later they received instructions to set out and follow the ark, which was carried by the priests.
3:1a
This is the beginning of a new story. It takes place the day after the spies returned from their trip to Jericho. In some languages it may be natural to start this new story with a phrase that sets the time, such as:
Early the next morning -or-
The next day
Start this new episode in a way that is natural in your language.
Early the next morning Joshua got up: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Early the next morning…got up can also be translated as “make an early start” or “leave early in the morning.”
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
The next morning Joshua got up early to leave -or-
The next day Joshua left early in the morning
and: The Hebrew conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and indicates the next action in the story.
left Shittim with all the Israelites: The subject of the verb left is plural. It refers to all the Israelites. This is a characteristic of Hebrew narrative style. The first verb “rose” refers to Joshua and highlights his importance. The second verb “set out” indicates that all the Israelites participated in the action.
All the Israelites got up early and left along with Joshua. Some languages may need to make this clear.
Here is another way to translate this sentence:
Joshua and all the people of Israel got up early in the morning and set out
Shittim: The term Shittim refers to the camping place that was mentioned in verse 2:1a. Translate it the same way you did there.
with all the Israelites: The Berean Standard Bible has moved the phrase with all the Israelites to this part of the verse because it makes more sense in English. In the Hebrew text this phrase is in verse 3:1b.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
Joshua and all the people of Israel got up early in the morning to leave ⌊the camp⌋ . They set out from Shittim -or-
The next day Joshua and all the Israelites got ready early and left Shittim Campground.
3:1b
The Hebrew conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible leaves untranslated but many English versions translate as “and” indicates the next event in the story.
went as far as the Jordan: The clause went as far as the Jordan indicates that Joshua and all the Israelites traveled to the Jordan River, which was approximately seven miles to the west.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
and arrived at the Jordan River -or-
They went ⌊west⌋ to the Jordan River
3:1c
where they camped: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as camped means that they set up their tents and stayed near the Jordan River. In v. 2 it says that they stayed there for three days. In some languages it may be more natural to repeat that as implied information in this verse.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
and they camped there -or-
and they stayed ⌊near the Jordan River for three days⌋
3:1d
before crossing over: Here is another way to translate this part of the verse:
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