4This is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the warriors, had died during the journey through the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt.
Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006: “steppe”
Yakan: “the lonely place” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a land where no people lived” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “the place with no inhabitants” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Matumbi uses various term: lubele (desert, sandy place without water) — used in John 11:54, lupu’ngu’ti (a place where no people live, can be a scrub land, a forest, or a savanna) — used in Mark 1:3 et al.), and mwitu (a forest, a place where wild animals live) — used in Mark 1:13 et al.) (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Chichewa Contemporary translation (2002/2016): chipululu: a place uninhabited by people with thick forest and bush (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Note that in Luke 15:4, usually a term is used that denotes pastoral land, such as “eating/grazing-place” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).
The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Joshua” is translated in Swiss-German Sign Language with a sign that depicts a trumpet of rams’ horn, referring to Joshua 6:4 and following.
The Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “circumcise” or “circumcision” in English (originally meaning of English term: “to cut around”) are (back-) translated in various ways:
Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “put the mark in the body showing that they belong to God” (or: “that they have a covenant with God”)
Indonesian: disunat — “undergo sunat” (sunat is derived from Arabic “sunnah (سنة)” — “(religious) way (of life)”)
Ekari: “cut the end of the member for which one fears shame” (in Gen. 17:10) (but typically: “the cutting custom”) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Hiri Motu: “cut the skin” (source: Deibler / Taylor 1977, p. 1079)
Garifuna: “cut off part of that which covers where one urinates”
Bribri: “cut the soft” (source for this and the one above: Ronald Ross)
Amele: deweg cagu qoc — “cut the body” (source: John Roberts)
Eastern Highland Otomi: “cut the flesh of the sons like Moses taught” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
Newari: “put the sign in one’s body” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 5:4:
Kupsabiny: “He did like that because all the men who were circumcised coming from Egypt had died in the wilderness.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Joshua had to circumcise them, because all those who came out of Egypt all the men of military age died in the wilderness on the way.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “This is the reason why Josue circumcised the men: When the Israelinhon left Egipto, all the men were- already -circumcised. But the ones who-were-born within-(a-period) of 40 years [they] journeyed in the desolate-place had- not -been-circumcised. And at that time, the men who (were) the right/proper age to-fight had-died because they did- not -obey the LORD. The LORD told them that they would- not ever -see the good and productive land that he promised to their ancestors/[lit. old-ones] to give to us (incl.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “The reason they did that is that all the men who left Egypt, those who were old enough to be soldiers, died in the desert after they left Egypt.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The explanation of why the rite of circumcision was necessary is given in verses 4-7; Good News Translation has endeavored to rearrange the material in verses 4-6 for ease of understanding. The Hebrew expression “the men of war” (Revised Standard Version) in verses 4, 6 means males twenty years and older who were eligible for military duty. All those male adults had died during the forty years spent in going from Egypt to Canaan, and the new male generation now had to be circumcised.
Although Good News Translation restructuring of verses 4-6 does make the understanding of the text somewhat easier, certain difficulties still exist. For example, the first sentence begins with a temporal clause that describes an event which took place subsequent to the action of the main clause. This problem is easily solved by inverting the two clauses: “All the Israelite men and boys were circumcised before the people of Israel left Egypt.” The next sentence can then begin “However, they did not circumcise any of the baby boys who were born during the forty years that the people spent crossing the desert.”
The next sentence is highly complex, and some restructuring may be necessary. For example:
• Also, by the end of that time all the men who were of fighting age when they left Egypt had died. They had disobeyed the LORD, and the LORD had sworn that he would not let them see the rich and fertile land that he had promised their ancestors. Or, one may shift to direct discourse: “They had not obeyed the LORD, and so the LORD had sworn, ‘You will not see the rich and fertile land that I promised your ancestors.’ ”
Just as he had sworn: Numbers 14.28-35 reports the Lord’s vow not to allow any male Israelite over twenty years of age to enter Canaan; all of them except Caleb and Joshua would die during the wanderings in the wilderness, and only their children would enter the promised land.
The rich and fertile land (Revised Standard Version “a land flowing with milk and honey”) is a set phrase to describe Canaan (see Exo 3.8; Num 14.8) as opposed to the wilderness where the Israelites had wandered for forty years. A number of translations maintain the Hebraism. This may be an effective device in cultures where the idiom has already become a part of the active vocabulary of the majority of speakers. However, this would certainly not be the case for many languages. In America, for example, church people and people who know certain biblical metaphors through English literature might understand the meaning, but it would otherwise be unclear for the average reader. On the other hand, a number of languages will have their own metaphors which will very effectively carry the meaning of the biblical expression.
He had promised their ancestors represents the Hebrew “The LORD had promised their ancestors (fathers) to give to us.” Here “us” refers to the generation of the writer of the account and the people of his time, who live many years after these historic events. He sees Israel in his own time as the recipients of God’s promise to the ancestors. In order to include the meaning of “us” of the Hebrew text, one may translate:
• The LORD had promised our ancestors that he would give this land to them, and to us, their descendants. But these men who left Egypt did not obey the LORD, and so the LORD said to them, “You will never live in the land which I promised your ancestors….”
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.