Canaan

The term that is transliterated as “Canaan” in English is translated in American Sign Language with the sign loosely referencing the act of hiding/covering one’s face in shame. The association of “shame” with the name “Canaan” comes from Genesis 9, specifically verse 9:25. This sign was adapted from a similar sign in Kenyan Sign Language (see here). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“Canaan” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Canaan in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)

complete verse (Joshua 5:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 5:12:

  • Kupsabiny: “The manna no longer fell from heaven as always. So, from then and going forward the people of Israel ate the food that grows in Canaan.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “On the next day when they ate grain grown in that land manna stopped coming down. The Israelites never had manna again. So from that year they ate the crops of the land of Canaan.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Since that-time the falling of manna stopped, and the Israelinhon now had-no-more manna. Their food from that year was now produce of the land of Canaan.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The next day, God stopped sending manna for the Israeli people to eat. After that, they ate food that was grown in Canaan.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Joshua 5:12

Then is literally “on the morrow” (Revised Standard Version); it is not the day after the “on the morrow after the passover” of verse 11, but is the same day, that is, the day after the Passover Day in verse 10. So Good News Translation has then; it could better be expressed by “that same day.”

For a description of manna see Exodus 16.14, 31; the Israelites had eaten it for forty years (Exo 16.35). The manna stopped falling then may need to be restructured so as not to suggest that manna had been constantly falling from the skies. One may translate “From that day on no more manna fell….” If this shift is made, then for stylistic reasons From that time on of the last sentence may be changed to “After that….”

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 5:12

5:12a

And: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And signals the next event in the storyline.

the day after: The phrase the day after refers to the morning after the Israelites celebrated the Passover feast. This was the day that the Israelites began to eat food from the land of Canaan.

they had: The word had marks a transitional event. Yahweh stopped sending manna when they ate the produce from the land.

eaten from the produce of the land: The phrase produce of the land refers to the barley grain that the Israelites gathered to roast and to make into bread.

5:12b

the manna: The manna is the food that Yahweh gave to the Israelites every morning while they walked through the wilderness. It is described in Exodus 16:13–16.

ceased: The word ceased means “stopped.” The manna appeared on the ground every morning for forty years. Now it no longer appeared. There is implied information: Yahweh is the one who sent the manna, and who stopped sending it.

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

Yahweh stopped sending the manna

5:12c

There was no more manna for the Israelites: The clause There was no more manna for the Israelites indicates that God no longer sent them manna from the sky.

5:12d

that year they began to eat the crops of the land of Canaan: The clause the crops of the land of Canaan has the same meaning as the clause “the produce of the land” in 12a.

Here is another way to translate this phrase:

that year they ate things that grew in the land of Canaan

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