10To the people Joshua gave this command: “You shall not shout or let your voice be heard, nor shall you utter a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 6:10:
Kupsabiny: “Joshua had earlier told those young men, ‘Do not say anything until I say, ‘Shout!’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Joshua gave the people an order like this, "Do not shout! Do not even speak a single word with your mouth until I tell you. Shout only when I say, ‘shout!’"” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “But Josue told the people not to-shout or to-make-noise before he commands (them) to-shout.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “But the rest of the people were silent, because Joshua had commanded them, ‘Do not make a war cry. Do not yell or say anything until the day when I tell you to shout. On that day, you must shout loudly!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
A shift may be made to indirect discourse: “But Joshua had told his men, ‘Do not shout or say a word until I give the order.’ ” The two expressions not to shout, not to say a word of Good News Translation represent a combining and shortening of the Hebrew “not shout or let your voice be heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth” (Revised Standard Version). Further combining is possible: “But Joshua had told his men, ‘Do not say a word until I give the order for you to shout.’ ”
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 .
But Joshua had commanded the people: The Hebrew conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But marks a contrast. The priests blew on the trumpets, but the people were not allowed to speak until the seventh day. Use a natural way to express this contrast in your language.
the people: The words the people refers to the soldiers and the priests.
6:10b
Do not give a battle cry or let your voice be heard: The two clauses Do not give a battle cry and let your voice be heard have a similar meaning. This is a way to give an emphatic command to the soldiers that they must be silent until Joshua tells them to shout. You should translate this part of the verse with an emphatic expression in your language.
6:10c-d
do not let one word come out of your mouth: The clause do not let one word come out of your mouth emphasizes that the soldiers must not say anything. It may be more natural in some languages to combine 10b and c and use an emphatic idiom or particle to convey the same meaning. For example:
10b You must not shout. 10c Don’t speak even one word. 10b Remain absolutely silent.
until the day I tell you to shout. Then you are to shout!: The term the day refers to the seventh day that they walked around the town. Yahweh instructed Joshua in 6:5 that on the seventh day the army must shout. If you have a word in your language for a shout that soldiers make, you should use it here. For example:
give a war cry (New Century Version) -or-
shout the battle cry (Contemporary English Version)
Find a natural way to express this in your language.
General Comment on 6:10b-d
In the Hebrew text Joshua speaks with a direct quote. In some languages it may be more natural to use an indirect quote. For example:
Joshua told the people not to shout or let their voices be heard, or let even one word come out of their mouths, until the day that he told them to shout
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.