18Then they journeyed through the wilderness, went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, arrived on the east side of the land of Moab, and camped on the other side of the Arnon. They did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.
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)
Cherokee: inage or “far away downstream” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 16)
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)
Adioukrou: loj or “savannah” — “land that is not village, nor forest, nor field (source: Hill 2006)
Isthmus Mixe: “dry country” (source for this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
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).
According to Anne Garber Kompaoré (in Le Sycomore 3/2009, p. 34ff. ), there are 4 ways to identify cardinal directions:
1. celestial bodies, especially the sun and certain stars
2. geographical landmarks, for example a mountain, sea, or river (depending on its position or the direction in which the water flows) etc.
3. climatic phenomena, such as the wind and the direction from which rain comes
4. bodily reference points, especially front, back, left, and right, in relation to celestial bodies or geographical landmarks
Following are examples of how these are practically implemented by various languages: (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)
Celestial Bodies
East and west are often translated by the rising and the setting of the sun (note that the origin of English and other Indo-European languages is “dawn” for “east” and “evening” [i.e. sun-down] for “west”):
Maan: “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down” (source: Don Slager)
Kankanaey: “from the coming-out of the sun “and “going-away of the sun” (source: Kankanaey back-translation)
Northern Emberá: “from where the sun comes up” and “from where the sun falls” (source: Charles Mortensen)
Ejamat “the side where the sun comes from” and “the side where it sets” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
Tzeltal: “where the sun pours-out” (west) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Northern Ngbandi: “the sun behind the chief’s house” (east — the chief lives traditionally at the eastern side of the village, therefore he does not get the sunlight into his eyes) and “under the sun” (west)
Northwestern Dinka: “earth behind” (east — the place behind the earth, i.e. the area where the sun rises)
Jula: “salt village” (north — because salt comes from the north, from the Sahara Desert) and “kola village” (south — since kola comes from the coastal region to the south) (source: Garber Kompaoré)
Matumbi: “toward the beach” (East) (the coast is in the eastern direction in Matumbi-speaking areas), “north” and “south” can be defined as above or below another place (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Acoli: “right” (of the local White Nile) (north) and “left” (of the White Nile) (south)
Zande: “interior (dry) land” (east); “place-inside-country” (north / south) — Zande, like a number of other languages, including Matengo and Hehe, traditionally only has three cardinal directions.
Belanda Bor: “lower place” (north) and “higher place” (south)
Turkana: “(up)stream” (north) and (down)stream (south)
Mono (DRC): “water place” (south) (source for this and five above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Climatic Phenomena
Shilluk: “opening westwind” (north) and “opening eastwind” (south)
Swahili used to have six directions. In reducing them to four, kusini and kaskazini which used to refer to south-west and north east respectively (the directions from where the two monsoons blow) have become the terms for “south” and north.” (source for this and one above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Bodily Reference Points
Nuer / Burun: “face” and “sun face” respectively (both: east)
Kalenjin: “eye sun” (east) (this and the one above indicate that the sun is “facing” the spectator from its position in the east:
Shilluk: doesn’t use a fixed position of the speaker, instead it has “eye sun morning” for east and “eye sun evening” for west
Mono (DRC): “foot-sun” (east — the start of the sun’s journey)
Burun: “sun leg” (west — the end of the sun’s journey)
Bari: “back” (north — when people are facing south, north is at their back) (source for this and above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Northern Emberá “the looking [left] hand” (north) and “the real [right] hand” (south) (source: Charles Mortensen)
Morelos Nahuatl: “from above” (north) and “from below” (south) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
When all four directions are mentioned, translators tend to avoid listing the four, sometimes verbose terms, and chose solutions like “all directions” (such as in Maan or Manya (source: Don Slager). Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) and Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).
The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture. Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Judges 11:18:
Kupsabiny: “Then, the people of Israel went ahead and crossed the wilderness going round the country of Edom and Moab, and they went to set up their tents on the other side of the river Arnon. They did not enter the country of Moab, because the border of Moab was at the river Arnon.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “After that they went by way of the desert and going along the borders of Edom and Moab, they went to the east of Moab and pitched camp on the other side of the Arnon. Because the Arnon river was the boundary of Moab they did not come into the country of Moab. ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “‘Sometime later, they continued to journey in the desert. They went-throughout Edom and Moab until they arrived in the east of Moab on the other-side of Arnon place-where-the-water-flows. There they camped, but they did- not -cross-over Arnon because that was the boundary of Moab.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Then the Israelis went into the desert and walked outside the borders of the Edom and Moab regions. They walked east of the Moab region, east of the Arnon River, which is the eastern border of the Moab region. They did not cross that river to enter the Moab region.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Then they journeyed through the wilderness: Since there is a change of location here, some versions begin a new paragraph (Contemporary English Version, New International Version, Revised English Bible). Then renders the Hebrew waw conjunction. Since some time has passed, we could also say “Later,” “Sometime later,” or “After that.” The pronoun they is literally “he,” referring to Israel, but most languages will use a plural pronoun here as in Revised Standard Version. If translators begin a new paragraph here, it may be better to be more explicit by saying “the Israelites” (Contemporary English Version) or “the people of Israel.” Journeyed renders the same Hebrew verb translated “went” in verse 11.16. For wilderness see verse 11.16.
And went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab: Because the Edomites and the Moabites would not allow the Israelites to pass through their territories, the Israelites had to go around them, making their journey more difficult and much longer. They had to travel to the east of these territories on the edge of the desert, which the next clause makes clear. Went around may be rendered “skirted” (New International Version) or “bypassed” (similarly New American Bible). It may be possible to reduce the lengthy phrase the land of Edom and the land of Moab: “the territories of Edom and Moab.” However, since there is emphasis on the word land in this section (see verse 11.12), this wording can be maintained if possible.
And arrived on the east side of the land of Moab is literally “and he came from [the] rising of [the] sun to the land of Moab,” which means the Israelites approached the Moabite territory from the eastern side. The words for east and “west” in many languages are often descriptive expressions linked with the sun rising and setting (see verse 1.9). The word land comes to the forefront yet again.
And camped on the other side of the Arnon: For the Hebrew verb rendered camped, see verse 6.4, where it is translated “encamped.” As noted in verse 11.13, the Arnon River flows from the desert in the east toward the Dead Sea in the west. It formed the border between the Ammonites and the Moabites. The phrase on the other side means the side opposite Moabite territory.
The first half of this verse may be rendered as follows:
• “Later the Israelites traveled through the wilderness passing to the east of Edom and Moab. They reached the eastern border of Moab and camped near/by the Arnon River.
But they did not enter the territory of Moab …: Though some versions omit the Hebrew waw conjunction at the beginning of this clause, Revised Standard Version expresses it well with the contrastive connector but. The Israelites traveled up to Moab’s border and stopped. They did not go into Moab. Territory and boundary render the same Hebrew word, so there is emphasis on it. We might say “They did not cross the border into Moabite country” or “But they were careful to not go into the territory belonging to the Moabites.”
For the Arnon was the boundary of Moab: This clause gives a geographical note about Moab, saying that the Arnon River was part of its boundary. For renders the Hebrew particle ki, which may be translated “because” (Good News Translation) or “since” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). In some languages this clause may be placed before the previous one, for example, “Since the Arnon River formed the Moabite boundary, they did not cross it into Moabite territory.” Another possible model is “They did not go into Moabite territory, whose border was the Arnon River.”
Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
11:18a Then Israel traveled through the wilderness
Then they went through the wilderness.
-or-
Then they went through the desert,
11:18b and bypassed the lands of Edom and Moab.
They went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab
-or-
bypassing the lands of Edom and Moab.
11:18c They came to the east side of the land of Moab
to the east of Moab.
-or-
They stayed to the east of Moab
11:18d and camped on the other side of the Arnon.
They camped on the other side of the Arnon River.
-or-
and put up their tents on the other side of the Arnon River.
11:18e But they did not enter the territory of Moab, since the Arnon was its border.
They did not enter the land of Moab, for the Arnon River was its border.
-or-
The Arnon River was the border of Moab, so ⌊you know that⌋ they did not enter Moab.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.