זֶ֣ה ׀ לַחְמֵ֗נוּ חָ֞ם הִצְטַיַּ֤דְנוּ אֹתוֹ֙ מִבָּ֣תֵּ֔ינוּ בְּי֥וֹם צֵאתֵ֖נוּ לָלֶ֣כֶת אֲלֵיכֶ֑ם וְעַתָּה֙ הִנֵּ֣ה יָבֵ֔שׁ וְהָיָ֖ה נִקֻּדִֽים׃
12Here is our bread; it was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey, on the day we set out to come to you, but now, see, it is dry and moldy;
In Gbaya, the notion of something very (unnaturally) dry or arid is emphasized in the referenced verses with kútú-kútú, an ideophone that refers to a head covered with scabs, a crusty head, or something scaly.
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding Joshua.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 9:12:
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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God or a person or persons to be greatly honored, the honorific prefix go- (御 or ご) can be used, as in go-ran (ご覧), a combination of “behold / see” (ran) and the honorific prefix go-.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also Japanese benefactives (goran).
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).
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Artwork by Sister Marie Claire , SMMI (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India.
For more information about images by Sister Marie Claire and ways to purchase them as lithographs, see here .
For other images of Sister Marie Claire paintings in TIPs, see here.
Look at our bread translates “Here is our bread” (Revised Standard Version), a Hebraism for calling attention to the bread.
The second sentence of verse 12 (When we left home … it was still warm) may be inverted and made shorter, since and started out to meet you was mentioned in the previous verse: “It was still warm when we left home with it.”
But look translates a Hebraism (Revised Standard Version “behold”) used as an attention getter. It is possible to translate accurately without using a word to express it in the text. In fact, for some languages But look! Now … may result in overemphasis, which would have negative effects.
Similarly, verse 13 may be translated, “The same is true of these wineskins. When we filled them they were new, but now they are torn….”
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 .
9:12a
This bread of ours: The Gibeonites said This bread of ours to call attention to the old bread they brought with them. In some languages it may be better to translate this as an imperative command, or as a rhetorical question. For example:
Look, see what our bread is like!
-or-
See this dry, crumbly bread of ours? (Contemporary English Version)
9:12b
was warm when we packed it at home: The clause was warm indicates that they had just finished baking the bread. It was warm because they took it out of the oven. If people are not familiar with making bread, it may be necessary to make this information explicit. For example:
it was hot out of the oven on the day we packed the food when we left our homes (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
we had just baked this bread and it was still warm when we took it from our houses
on the day we left to come to you: The phrase on the day we left to come to you refers to the day that the Gibeonites started their trip to the Israelite camp.
Here is another way to translate this phrase:
on the day we left our houses
The phrase on the day we left to come to you may be incorporated into the first verse part, as in Contemporary English Version above. It may also be left as implicit information and not translated, as in New Century Version:
Look at our bread. On the day we left home to come to you it was warm and fresh (New Century Version)
9:12c
But take a look: The phrase But take a look calls attention to something important. It emphasizes that the journey was long because the bread is all dried up. Show this emphasis in a way that is natural in your language.
it is now dry and moldy: The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as moldy is used only three times in the Old Testament. The meaning is uncertain. You should translate it the same way you did in 9:5b.
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