In many, if not most of the languages in the Philippines, proper nouns, such as personal names, are tagged with a marker that signals their grammatical role within a sentence. For Tagalog and the Visayan languages , this typically includes si to mark the proper noun as the actor or subject (nominative case), ni to mark the proper noun as an owner (genitive case), and kay to mark the proper noun as as an indirect object, i.e. the one to or toward whom an action is directed (dative case). All of these also have plural forms — sina, nina and kina respectively — and unlike in the biblical languages or in English, the plural form has to be used when only a single proper name is mentioned but implicitly that proper name includes more than just one.
In this verse, where English translates “Gideon (went up),” the Tagalog translation translates “sina Gideon” because the context of the text makes clear that Gideon was with 300 men. (Source: Kermit Titrud and Steve Quakenbush)
The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Gideon” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “wring out cloth” referring to Judges 6:38. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin that is translated as “army” in English is translated in Chichewa as “group of warriors.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
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.” (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.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Judges 8:11:
Kupsabiny: “Then Gideon went around to the East side of Nobah and Jogbehah and made a surprise attack on those soldiers.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Gideon went up, going the route used by the tent-dwellers toward the east of Nobah and Jogbehah and made a surprise attack on the enemy.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Gideon and-company continued to ascend and they passed-through there in the place of the ones living in tents to the east of Noba and Jogbeha. Then they suddenly attacked the Midianhon.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Gideon and his men went east along the road on which caravans travel. They went past Nobah and Jogbehah villages and arrived at the enemy camp by surprise.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
And Gideon went up by the caravan route: Though some versions begin a new paragraph here, most see this verse as a continuation of the information given above. Some versions omit the Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And, but given the context, we might say “So.” The text does not say how Gideon found out where these kings and their remaining troops were located.
Gideon refers to both this leader and his men. They probably sneaked up behind the Midianite soldiers to attack them by surprise, as the rest of the verse makes clear. In most languages it will be better to say “Gideon and his men” or “Gideon and his soldiers/army.” The Hebrew verb rendered went up (ʿalah) has the military sense of “marched” here (see verse 1.1). However, it can also refer to going up in elevation here, since Gideon had to climb from the Jabbok Valley to Karkor on the plateau. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “marched up,” which conveys both these meanings of the verb. However, since a road is an object of this verb, it might be necessary to say “took” or “followed.” The caravan route is literally “the way/road of those who dwell in tents.” Some scholars think the phrase “those who dwell in tents” might actually be the name of this road. There are examples of other routes having such names, for example, “King’s Highway” (Num 20.17). So Contemporary English Version chooses to say “Nomad Road.” However, other versions (including Revised Standard Version) think this phrase is a descriptive one. For example, New International Version and New American Bible have “the route of the nomads.” Good News Translation uses a more general descriptive phrase, saying “the road along the edge of the desert,” but this rendering does not convey the idea that the road is linked to nomads.
East of Nobah and Jogbehah: This phrase gives the precise location of the road. It was east of two towns, Nobah and Jogbehah. Neither town is known today, though Jogbehah is usually associated with a site just to the north of present-day Amman. This phrase may be rendered “east of the towns of Nobah and Jogbehah.”
And attacked the army: Gideon and his men attack what was left of the army of Zebah and Zalmunna. For the Hebrew verb rendered attacked (literally “struck”), see the comments on verse 1.4, where it is translated “defeated.” Once again the army is literally “the camp” (see verse 7.1). It may be better to say “the Midianite army” or “the enemy army.”
For the army was off its guard: This clause confirms that this was a surprise attack. For renders the Hebrew waw conjunction, which many versions leave untranslated here. Off its guard renders a Hebrew root meaning “trust.” This clause reads literally “and the camp was trusting,” which means the Midianites were not expecting an attack by Gideon and his troops. New International Version renders off its guard as “unsuspecting,” and New Jerusalem Bible says “when it thought itself in safety.” Good News Translation suggests that Gideon “attacked the army by surprise.” The last two clauses may be reversed as in the first model below.
Translation models for this verse are:
• Gideon and his men went up by Tent-Dwellers Road, east of the towns of Nobah and Jogbehah. The Midianite army suspected nothing, and Gideon and his men launched their attack.
• Gideon took the road that nomads used, east of the towns of Nobah and Jogbehah. Then he and his men launched their attack against the Midianite soldiers. They had no idea the attack was coming.
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 .
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