Cherokee: “putting one’s hand up to someone” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
In Bauzi “swear” can be translated in various ways. In Hebrews 6:13, for instance, it is translated with “bones break apart and decisively speak.” (“No bones are literally broken but by saying ‘break bones’ it is like people swear by someone else in this case it is in relation to a rotting corpse’ bones falling apart. If you ‘break bones’ so to speak when you make an utterance, it is a true utterance.”) In other passages, such as in Matthew 26:72, it’s translated with an expression that implies taking ashes (“if a person wants everyone to know that he is telling the truth about a matter, he reaches down into the fireplace, scoops up some ashes and throws them while saying ‘I was not the one who did that.'”). So in Matthew 26:72 the Bauzi text is: “. . . Peter took ashes and defended himself saying, ‘I don’t know that Nazareth person.'” (Source: David Briley)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
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, both the Jarai translation and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation use the inclusive pronoun (including the leaders and the congregation).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 9:20:
Kupsabiny: “We must leave them in peace so that God will not punish us for what we have sworn.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Since we have sworn an oath that we must leave them without killing them, otherwise God will punish us."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “This is now what we (incl.) will-do: We (incl.) will- not -kill them for maybe God would-punish us (incl.) because of what we (incl.) swore to them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “This is what we will do: We will not kill them. If we kill them, God will be very angry with us and punish us because of not doing what we promised to do.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
We (also us) of this and the following two verses must be translated as an inclusive first personal pronoun, in those languages that make a distinction between inclusive and exclusive forms. The leaders are saying that no one in Israel is allowed to harm these people. Although the Hebrew text has “touch” (Revised Standard Version), it is used in the sense of bringing harm to the persons touched, and so the basis for Good News Translation.
God will punish us translates the Hebrew “anger will be upon us” (see Revised Standard Version), a reference to God’s anger.
It is possible to place verses 19-20 together and so translate “19-20 But they answered, ‘We have promised them freedom in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. Therefore we must let them live. Otherwise the LORD will punish us severely.’ ”
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 .
This is how we will treat them: We will let them live: The clause This is how we will treat them is a way to emphasize the second clause, We will let them live. The Israelites intend to let the Gibeonites live.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
This is what we will do to them: we will let them live (New International Version) -or-
This we will do to them: let them live (English Standard Version) -or-
We must let them live (NET Bible)
9:20b
so that no wrath will fall on us: The clause so that no wrath will fall on us indicates that Yahweh would be angry and punish the Israelites if they broke their vow and harmed the Gibeonites.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
so that God’s wrath will not fall on us (New International Version (2011)) -or-
otherwise God will be angry at us
because of the oath we swore to them: The phrase the oath we swore to them states the reason that God would be angry with the Israelites. They made an oath to the Gibeonites in God’s name. God will be angry if they break that oath.
Here is another way to translate this phrase:
for breaking the oath we swore to them (New International Version)
It may be clearer to combine these two clauses:
If we break our promise, God will punish us (Contemporary English Version) -or-
divine anger would come upon us if we broke our oath (New Living Translation (2004))
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