The term that is transliterated as “Caleb” in English is translated in American Sign Language with one variation of the sign for “watch,” a reference to the fact that Caleb was one of the twelve who surveyed the Promised Land. The sign also alludes to watchdogs, a reference to Caleb’s enduring loyalty to God. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Caleb” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with the sign for “spy.” (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the inclusive pronoun, including everyone.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 13:30:
Kupsabiny: “Then, Caleb spoke to the people in front of Moses saying, ‘Let us go and take that country because we are certainly able to take it.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “Caleb, in order to shut [lit.: stitch] the mouths of peoples before Moses, spoke in this way, "We should go up at once and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Caleb calmed the people in front of Moises, and he said, ‘We (incl.) shall-go now at-once and we (incl.) shall- conquer/take-possession-of/(lit. grab) the land, for we (incl.) can- certainly -conquer/take-possession-of/[lit. grab] this.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “When they said that, the people were afraid and started to cry out very loudly. But Caleb told the people who were standing near Moses/me to be quiet. Then he said, ‘We should go there and take the land, because we are certainly able to conquer it!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English means “taken out of the water,” “saved out of the water,” “a son.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).
In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:
The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).
In Swiss-German Sign Language (and Hungarian Sign Language) it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
In Korean Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the arms held up by Moses to assure the Israelites victory over the Amalekites (see Exodus 17:11).
But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said: It may be useful to use the conjunction But if it makes the translation more coherent by indicating the contrast between the report of the majority of the spies (verses 28-29) and what Caleb is about to say. On the other hand, it may not be necessary to use this conjunction, since the text has not yet mentioned how the Israelites reacted. If a transition to Caleb’s words is needed, a simple temporal conjunction such as “Then” (New International Version, New Century Version) may be sufficient. In any case, it seems more logical to use the conjunction “But” at the beginning of verse 31, at the point where the spies emphasize their fears and explicitly contradict Caleb’s proposal. Caleb (see verse 6) is the only spy in view here as opposing the others; Joshua is not mentioned until 14.6. The Hebrew verb for quieted (hasah) probably resembles the sound that would be used in urging others to be silent. In a number of languages translators may be able to use a similar sounding onomatopoetic verb; for example, many Bantu languages can use an ideophone here, such as chete in Chewa. Quieted the people (“silenced the people” in Good News Translation) implies that they must have reacted in some vocal way. But the text does not specify exactly how the people reacted and leaves this to the reader’s imagination. It does not say that they “were complaining against Moses” (Good News Translation), which renders before Moses, so it is better to say “as they stood before Moses” (New Living Translation) or “who were gathered around Moses” (Good News Translation footnote). Alter renders this whole sentence well, saying “And Caleb silenced the people around Moses and said.” Contemporary English Version has simply “Caleb calmed down the crowd and said.”
Let us go up at once renders an emphatic Hebrew expression, which is literally “To go up let us go up.” The Hebrew verb for go up occurs twice here, first as an infinitive absolute and then as a finite verb. It is the same verb used in verse 17 (see the comments there), but this time it refers to military action, meaning “attack” (Good News Translation). A good model for this clause is “Indeed, let us attack now.”
And occupy it may be rendered “and conquer/capture the land.”
For we are well able to overcome it renders another emphatic Hebrew expression that uses an infinitive absolute and finite form of the same verb. The Hebrew particle ki rendered for is an emphatic marker here. This clause is literally “indeed to overcome we will overcome it,” which may be translated “We are surely strong enough to conquer it.”
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 .
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