desert / wilderness

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The Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Latin that is translated as “desert” or “wilderness” in English is translated in a number of ways:

  • Mairasi: “a place where noisiness is cut off (or: stops)” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Muna: pandaso bhalano pr “big barren-field” (source: René van den Berg)
  • Balinese: “barren field” (source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )
  • Wantoat: “uninhabited place” (source: Holzhausen 1991, p. 38)
  • Umiray Dumaget Agta: “where no people dwell” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “where no house is” (source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
  • Amri Karbi: “waterless region/place” (source: Philippova 2021, p. 368)
  • Ocotlán Zapotec: “large empty place” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Pa’o Karen: “jungle” (denoting a place without any towns, villages and tilled fields) (source: Gordon Luce in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 153f. )
  • 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).

See also wilderness and desolate wilderness.

complete verse (Judges 11:18)

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)

cardinal directions

The cardinal directions “east” and “west” are easy to translate into Maan here since the language uses “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down.” For “north” the translator had “facing toward the sun rising to the left,” and for “south” she had “facing toward the sun rising to the right.” So the listener had to think hard before knowing what direction was in view when translating “to the north and south, to the east and west.” So, in case all four directions are mentioned, it was shortened by saying simply “all directions.” Manya uses a similar nomenclature for the cardinal directions. (Source: Don Slager)

Likewise, Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) or Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).

Kankanaey is “from the coming-out and the going-away of the sun and the north and the south” (source: Kankanaey back-translation), Northern Emberá “from where the sun comes up, from where it falls, from the looking [left] hand, from the real [right] hand” (source: Charles Mortensen), Amele “from the direction of the sun going up, from the direction of the sun going down, from the north and from the south” (source: John Roberts), Ejamat “look up to see the side where the sun comes from, and the side where it sets, and look on your right side, and on your left” (source: David Frank in this blog post ).

In Lamba, only umutulesuŵa, “where the sun rises” and imbonsi, “where the sun sets” were available as cardinal directions that were not tied to the local area of language speakers (“north” is kumausi — “to the Aushi country” — and “south” kumalenje — “to the Lenje country”). So “north” and “south” were introduced as loanwords, nofu and saufu respectively. The whole phrase is kunofu nakusaufu nakumutulesuŵa nakumbonsi. (Source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff. )

“West” is translated in Tzeltal as “where the sun pours-out” and in Kele as “down-river” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel).

In Morelos Nahuatl, “north” is translated as “from above” and “south” as “from below.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

In Matumbi cardinal directions are defined as in relation to another place. “East” for instance typically is “toward the beach” since 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)

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.”

See also cardinal directions / left and right and people of the East.

Translation commentary on Judges 11:18

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Judges 11:18

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.

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