33The main body of the Israelites drew back its battle line to Baal-tamar, while those Israelites who were in ambush rushed out of their place west of Geba.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Judges 20:33:
Kupsabiny: “The soldiers of Israelites who were many moved back. But when they reached Baal-tamar, they turned around towards (the one) of Benjamin and fought them. Then suddenly, the others who had hid themselves, came out of hiding and fought with the city of Gibeah.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “All the Israelites left their places and gathered for battle in Baal-tamar. Immediately the Israelites who had been hiding came out quickly from places west of Gibeah.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “When the Israelinhon have arrived at Baal-Tamar, they positioned there while the ones who are-ambushing around Gibea came-out.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “The main group of Israeli men left their positions and retreated, and then they stood in their battle positions again at a place named Baal-Tamar.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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.”
Many languages use a “body part tally system” where body parts function as numerals (see body part tally systems with a description). One such language is Angguruk Yali which uses a system that ends at the number 27. To circumvent this limitation, the Angguruk Yali translators adopted a strategy where a large number is first indicated with an approximation via the traditional system, followed by the exact number according to Arabic numerals. For example, where in 2 Samuel 6:1 it says “thirty thousand” in the English translation, the Angguruk Yali says teng-teng angge 30.000 or “so many rounds [following the body part tally system] 30,000,” likewise, in Acts 27:37 where the number “two hundred seventy-six” is used, the Angguruk Yali translation says teng-teng angge 276 or “so many rounds 276,” or in John 6:10 teng-teng angge 5.000 for “five thousand.”
This strategy is used in all the verses referenced here.
Now the surprise attack takes place. Two groups of Israelite soldiers need to be distinguished here: all the men of Israel composed the main army, and the men of Israel who were in ambush were those who hid in ambush.
And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place: The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And may be translated “Then” or “So” (Good News Translation) in this context. All the men of Israel is literally “every man of Israel.” This phrase does not refer to every single Israelite male, but to the majority of the Israelite soldiers, that is, those who did not hide in ambush. This phrase may be translated “the main body of the Israelite army.” The Hebrew verb rendered rose up (qum) once again plays a very important role, as it has throughout this book (see comments on verse 2.16). Finally in this section, the people of Israel rose up, as the judges of the past had done, to defeat their enemies. However, the irony here is that they rose up against their own flesh and blood (compare verse 9.34). The action here seems to be one of pulling back (Good News Translation) or pretending to flee. But if at all possible, the same verb used in other key places should be used here to preserve this important literary feature. Out of their place (literally “from his place”) refers to the place where they first lined up to fight. We may say “from their places.” Good News Translation leaves this phrase implied, which other languages may find helpful.
And set themselves in array at Baal-tamar: For the Hebrew verb rendered set themselves in array, see the comments on verse 20.30. The town of Baal-tamar is mentioned only here in the Old Testament. Its location is unknown, but it must have been somewhere near Gibeah. The name Baal-tamar means “master of the date palm.”
And the men of Israel who were in ambush rushed out of their place west of Geba: The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered and introduces a simultaneous action here. There were two groups with two activities going on at the same time. Most of the Israelite soldiers were retreating to Baal-tamar while those who were lying in ambush came rushing out of their hiding places. Thus this conjunction may be rendered “while” (New Revised Standard Version) or “at the same time.” The men of Israel who were in ambush is literally “the ambusher of Israel,” which should be rendered in this context as a plural, for example, “the Israelite ambushers” or “the Israelites who were lying in ambush.” While the Hebrew verb rendered rushed usually describes water that rushes, here it describes people bursting out of a place. In Hebrew this verb is a participle, which indicates it is a simultaneous action. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “was rushing out,” and New International Version has “charged out.” Out of their place renders the same Hebrew phrase used in the previous sentence. The repetition here may emphasize how well organized the Israelites were this time. In this context it may be translated “out of their hiding place” or “from the position where they were hiding.”
Instead of west of Geba, the Hebrew text has “from the bare space [or, open plain] of Geba,” which New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh transliterates as “Maareh-geba.” The Hebrew word for “bare space” is close to one that means “cave,” which may explain Good News Translation‘s rendering “in the rocky country around the city.” Geba was a town belonging to the Levites in the territory of Benjamin (see verse 21.17). The Septuagint has “west of Gibeah.” Though Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives a {B} rating to “from the exposed point of Geba,” many versions follow the ver Septuagintver* here (New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). Translators may follow either reading, giving the alternative in a footnote.
Translation models for this verse are:
• So all those Israelites fled and positioned themselves at a place called Baal-tamar. At the same time the Israelites who were waiting in ambush rushed out of their hiding place west of Gibeah.*
* “West of Gibeah” is the translation of the Septuagint. The Hebrew has “from the bare plain of Geba.” Geba was a town in the territory of Benjamin.
• So the main Israelite army withdrew and arranged themselves at the town of Baal-tamar, while the ambushers rushed out from their hiding place west of Geba.
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 .
20:33a So all the men of Israel got up from their places and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamar,
All the Israel men moved and formed a new line at Baal Tamar town.
-or-
The soldiers of Israel all moved to a new location. They stopped at the town of Baal Tamar ready to fight.
20:33c and the Israelites in ambush charged from their positions west of Gibeah.
Then the Israel people who had been hiding ran out from the west side of Gibeah town.
-or-
Then the ⌊other⌋ Israel soldiers rushed out from their hiding place west of the town of Gibeah.
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