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.” Manya uses a similar nomenclature for the cardinal 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.)
In Matumbi cardinal directions are defined as in relation to another place. “East” for instance typically is “toward the beach” since the coast is in the eastern direction in Matumbi-speaking areas. “North” and “south” can be defined as above or below another place. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
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.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 4:19:
Kupsabiny: “It was the tenth day of the first month when the people crossed the river Jordan. They went to live/stay where it is called Gilgal on the eastern side of Jericho.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “The Israelites, having come from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, camped in Gilgal, which is situated east of Jericho.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The crossing of the Israelinhon over the River of Jordan happened on the tenth day of the first month. Then the Israelinhon camped at Gilgal, on the east side of Jerico.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “It was on the tenth day of the first month of that year that the people crossed over the Jordan River and camped at a place called Gilgal, on the east side of the land near Jericho city.” (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 )
Crossed is literally “came up out of” (Revised Standard Version). Many languages will have specialized terms for “crossing a river” or for “coming up out of a valley onto level land.” One must avoid a term which would suggest the crossing of the river in a boat or by some other water vehicle. For that reason the word generally used for “crossing” may not be satisfactory, and one may do better to select a term which means “cross a valley by foot.”
The day the people crossed into Canaan is given as the tenth day of the first month, that is, of Abib (later called Nisan). This month began with the first new moon occurring after the modern March 11, so the crossing occurred between March 21 and April 18, in modern terms. (Passover falls on 14 Nisan; see Exo 12.18.) Problems related to the months of the year are sometimes highly complex, and it may be useful to provide a cultural note, indicating that the reference is to the first month of the Jewish calendar year and to define it in terms of the international (or local) calendar year.
Gilgal is usually located about 4 kilometers east (really northeast) of Jericho (Revised Standard Version “on the east border of Jericho”). It may be useful to mark Gilgal as a “town”; if so, one would then translate “camped near the town of Gilgal.”
The Hebrew phrase translated “the east border” by Revised Standard Version probably indicates the eastern edge of the territory controlled by Jericho. Jericho was a walled city, and the text does not mean that the Israelites were camped right outside the city walls.
There at Gilgal Joshua set up the twelve stones taken from the Jordan (see 4.8). As at 4.8, so here also it is necessary to clarify that Joshua himself was not the one who set up the twelve stones. Moreover, the indefinite passive taken from may be a problem. One may then need to translate “There Joshua caused (or, commanded) the men to set up the twelve stones which they had taken from the Jordan.”
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 .
On the tenth day of the first month: The first month refers to the month of the Hebrew calendar that was called Abib, and later called Nisan. This month began with the first new moon occurring after March 11. So, the people crossed the Jordan River between March 21 and April 18.
the people went up from the Jordan: The Israelites walked out of the Jordan River and up onto the western bank.
4:19b
and camped: The word camped means that they set up a temporary camp or dwelling place. If there is no appropriate word in your language for “camp” you can translate it:
they set up temporary homes
at Gilgal:Gilgal is the name of a place between Jericho and the Jordan River. At the time when the Israelites camped there, Gilgal was not yet a town. It was given the name Gilgal at the time of their encampment and probably later it became a town. The exact location of Gilgal is not known.
on the eastern border of Jericho:Jericho was a town with a large wall around it for protection against enemies.
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