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)
The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Joshua” is translated in Swiss-German Sign Language with a sign that depicts a trumpet of rams’ horn, referring to Joshua 6:4 and following.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 14:30:
Kupsabiny: “Every person who has grumbled against me shall die in this wilderness. Every person who is twenty years old and above shall die. There is not a single person among you who shall enter that country that I promised that you would live in. But Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun are the only ones who shall enter that land.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “No one at all among you will get to go into the land that I swore to settle you with uplifted hand, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “who can-enter the land which I had-swore which would be- given to you (plur.) where you (plur.) will-stay-on, aside only from Caleb the child of Jefune and Josue the child of Nun.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “will enter the land that I solemnly promised to give to you. Only Caleb and Joshua will enter that land.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
The sentence covering verses 29-30 in Revised Standard Version will be too long in many languages. Good News Translation provides one model for dividing it into several sentences.
Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness means the Israelites will die in the desert. Good News Translation indicates that they will die periodically and individually, not all at once, by saying “You will die and your corpses will be scattered across this wilderness.” Some languages distinguish between human and other types of animate corpses; obviously, dead bodies refers to human corpses. For the Hebrew word rendered wilderness (midbar), see 1.1.
And of all your number, numbered from twenty years old and upward …: The census originally had a military purpose in view of the conquest of the land. Now it becomes a list of those condemned to perish in the wilderness (so Sherwood, page 162). For the Hebrew verb rendered numbered (paqad), see 1.3. It is better translated “recorded” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “registered” (New American Bible), or “enrolled.” For from twenty years old and upward, see 1.3.
Who have murmured against me: See verse 2.
Not one shall come into the land: God will not allow anyone twenty years and older to enter Canaan. The Hebrew construction here emphasizes that there will be no exception. Good News Translation expresses it well by saying “none of you … will enter that land.”
Where I swore that I would make you dwell: The Hebrew expression for I swore is literally “I lifted my hand,” which means “I solemnly promised” (Contemporary English Version; similarly Good News Translation, New Century Version), not that God used bad language. Some translations reflect the Hebrew idiom of raising the right hand while swearing an oath, as happens in many law courts today; for example, Revised English Bible says “I swore with uplifted hand.” It is best not to try to retain the Hebrew gesture, but rather to give the meaning or use an equivalent local gesture for swearing an oath or making a promise. However, translators may retain the gesture and give the meaning by saying “I lifted up my hand to signify the promise I made.” In its reorganization of Revised Standard Version‘s sentence structure, Good News Translation begins a new sentence here, saying “I promised to let you live there.” It would be better to say “I made a solemn promise to let you live there.”
Except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun: The only adults that God will allow to enter Canaan are Caleb the son of Jephunneh (see 13.6) and Joshua the son of Nun (see 11.28 and 13.8).
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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