Spies return from Canaan

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The following is a stained glass window from the Three choir windows in the Marienkirche, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, of the 14th century:

Source: Der gläserne Schatz: Die Bilderbibel der St. Marienkirche in Frankfurt (Oder), Neuer Berlin Verlag, 2005, copyright for this image: Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologisches Landesmuseum

Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )

See also other stained glass windows from the Marienkirche in Frankfurt.

complete verse (Numbers 13:25)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 13:25:

  • Kupsabiny: “The spies returned from the country they were checking out having completed forty days.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “After forty days, having finished exploring that land, they returned.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “After 40 days of spying/exploring the land, they returned” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “After they explored the land for 40 days, they returned to their camp.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Numbers 13:25

At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land: The pronoun they refers to the twelve spies, which translators may need to make explicit in the same way as in verse 21 (see the comments there). The verb returned marks the conceptual closure of returning from a mission and spying out forms an inclusio with forms of the same Hebrew verb in verses 2, 16-17, and 21.

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .