Judah, Judea

The name that is transliterated as “Judah” or “Judea” in English (referring to the son of Jacob, the tribe, and the territory) is translated in Spanish Sign Language as “lion” (referring to Genesis 49:9 and Revelation 5:5). This sign for lion is reserved for regions and kingdoms. (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. and Steve Parkhurst)


“Judah” and “Judea” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

See also Judah, Judah (son of Jacob) , and Tribe of Judah .

complete verse (Nehemiah 13:24)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Nehemiah 13:24:

  • Kupsabiny: “But the worst thing was that some/half of their children used to speak the language of Ashdod or of other people and they were not able to speak the language of the Jews even a little.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Half of their children speak the language of Ashdod or the language of the other place, and they could not speak the language of Juda.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The result was that half of their children spoke the language that people in Ashdod speak or some other language, and they didn’t know how to speak our language.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Nehemiah 13:24

Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod: Nehemiah was particularly concerned about the language spoken by the children. Half must refer to the children of Ashdodite mothers. It is assumed that those with Ammonite and Moabite mothers spoke a form of Hebrew, while the language of Ashdod was perhaps not mutually intelligible with Hebrew. Some commentators assert, however, that it was a dialect of Aramaic. Nevertheless, the children who spoke the dialect of Ashdod did not speak the language of Judah properly. Children is “sons” in the Hebrew text, but the general assumption is that the word is being used in the generic sense of children and is not referring exclusively to male children.

The language of Judah, which is literally “Judean” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), was Hebrew, and this was the language of worship. Those who did not know Hebrew could not participate in the religious life of the Jewish people. Thus Nehemiah’s concern was maintaining language purity for communal and religious reasons. Contemporary English Version refers explicitly to speaking Hebrew. Since the reference here is not to the Hebrew language of modern-day Israel, it is preferable to reflect the expression of the text as Revised Standard Version has done and refer to Hebrew in a footnote.

The language of each people means “the language of other people.” Some commentators suggest that this phrase should immediately follow the first part of the verse and most translations restructure the verse accordingly, as Good News Translation has done.

Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Nehemiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .