11‘Surely none of the people who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and up, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not unreservedly followed me—
In Aekyom, years are counted as “turtles” (ambum).
Norm Mundhenk tells this story:
“Recently I was checking some New Testament material in the Aekyom language of western Papua New Guinea. It seemed relatively clear until suddenly we came to a passage that started, ‘When Jesus had 12 turtles, …’ Surely I had misunderstood what they said.
“‘Did you say that Jesus had 12 turtles?’
“‘Let us explain! Around here there is a certain time every year when river turtles come up on the banks and lay their eggs. Because this is so regular, it can be used as a way of counting years. Someone’s age is said to be how many turtles that person has. So when we say that Jesus had 12 turtles, we mean that Jesus was 12 years old.’
“It was of course the familiar story of Jesus’ trip with his parents to Jerusalem. And certainly, as we all know, Jesus did indeed have 12 turtles at that time!”
In Tok Pisin, krismas (derived from “christmas”) is taken as the fixed annual marker, so Jesus had 12 “christmases” (Jisas i gat 12-pela krismas pinis) or Abram (in Gen. 12:4) had 75 (Abram i gat 75 krismas) (source: Norm Mundhenk). In Noongar it is biroka kadak or “summers had” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
In Bauzi “swear” can be translated in various ways. In Hebrews 6:13, for instance, it is translated with “bones break apart and decisively speak.” (“No bones are literally broken but by saying ‘break bones’ it is like people swear by someone else in this case it is in relation to a rotting corpse’ bones falling apart. If you ‘break bones’ so to speak when you make an utterance, it is a true utterance.”) In other passages, such as in Matthew 26:72, it’s translated with an expression that implies taking ashes (“if a person wants everyone to know that he is telling the truth about a matter, he reaches down into the fireplace, scoops up some ashes and throws them while saying ‘I was not the one who did that.'”). So in Matthew 26:72 the Bauzi text is: “. . . Peter took ashes and defended himself saying, ‘I don’t know that Nazareth person.'” (Source: David Briley)
The name that is transliterated as “Isaac” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and French Sign Language with a sign that is linked to his mother’s laughter when she hears that she will be pregnant with him (referring to Genesis 18:12 – 18:15) and also is the meaning of the Hebrew “Isaac” (Yitschaq — “he laughs”):
The name that is transliterated as “Abraham” in English is translated in the vast majority of sign languages, including American Sign Language with the sign signifying “hold back arm” (referring to Genesis 22:12).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with a sign for that demonstrates his new destiny. Previously, he had been called to wander from his home, and the name “Abram” reflected this movement (see here). The new sign name is in one location and stays there, showing Abraham will be given a land to call his own. At this time, Abraham was in the southern part of Canaan, which is shown on the base arm by the location near the elbow. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Abraham” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
In Tira it is transliterated as Abaram. The choice of this, rather than the widely-known “Ibrahim,” as used in the Tira translation of the Qu’ran, was to offset it against the Muslim transliteration which originates from Arabic. (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Click or tap here to see two short video clips about Abraham (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 32:11:
Kupsabiny: “‘Truly, there is no person among those who came out of Egypt who has twenty years and above who shall see that country that I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “’Because they did not follow me whole-heartedly [lit.: from [their] inner heart], none of those, 20 years old or above, that [I] brought out of the land of Egypt will get to go into the land that I promised with an oath to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “‘Because they did- not -obey me wholeheartedly, no one among them who is 20 year old of-age above who left Egipto will-see the land which I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “‘From all the people who came out of Egypt, the only ones who are at least 20 years old who will see the land that I promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are Jephunneh’s son Caleb and Nun’s son Joshua, because they trusted me completely. None of the other people who came out of Egypt will even see that land, because they have not completely believed in my power.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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 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.
Verse 11 refers back to the LORD’s words in 14.22-23.
Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land: The Hebrew particle ʾim at the beginning of this verse only marks the beginning of a negative oath here, so many versions omit the word Surely (so New International Version, New Living Translation). However, in some languages it is necessary to emphasize the beginning of such an oath, especially if it is pronounced by persons (such as God) who have the power to carry it out; for example, Chewa begins with “Most certainly none…,” and Good News Translation has “I swear that … none….” Came up may be rendered simply “came” (Good News Translation; see the comments on “Go up” at 13.17). For from twenty years old and upward, see 1.3. In some languages the literal verb see may be natural in this context, but others will prefer to say “enter” (Good News Translation). The Hebrew term for land (ʾadamah) can mean “country,” but here it refers to the fertile land of Canaan, so a better rendering is “tillable land.”
Which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob: See 11.12. Swore renders the same Hebrew verb as in the previous verse, but here it has a positive connotation. The Hebrew text does not have the phrase to give. Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible are more literal by rendering swore to give as “promised.” Compare New International Version and Revised English Bible with “promised on oath” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling), and SPCL with “solemnly promised.” However, like Revised Standard Version, other languages will naturally include the idea of “give” here (so Chewa).
Because they have not wholly followed me is literally “because they have not filled after me” (similarly Alter). Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation (“because they did not remain loyal to me”) give dynamic translations of this Hebrew idiom, which occurs also in 14.24, where it is rendered “[Caleb] has followed me fully.” New Living Translation says “for they have not obeyed me wholeheartedly.” It may be necessary to place this reason clause closer to the beginning of the verse (so Good News Translation), rather than at the end, as in the Hebrew text and Revised Standard Version.
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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