מִשְׁפְּחֹ֖ת הַגֵּרְשֻׁנִּ֑י אַחֲרֵ֧י הַמִּשְׁכָּ֛ן יַחֲנ֖וּ יָֽמָּה׃
23The clans of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle on the west,
The Hebrew terms that are translated as “family” or “clan” or “house” or similar in English are all translated in Kwere as ng’holo or “clan.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
In the English translation by Goldingay (2018) it is translated as “kin-group.”
See also tribe.
The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “tabernacle” in English is translated in San Blas Kuna as “house of prayer that can be carried.” (Source: Ronald Ross)
In Bandi it is translated as “holy sitting place.” The “sitting place for the Bandi is where you live.” Therefore the tabernacle is the place where God lived. (Source: Becky Grossmann in this newsletter )
In Vidunda it is translated as “God’s tent” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext) and in Tibetan as gur mchog (གུར་མཆོག) or “perfect tent” (source: gSungrab website )
In American Sign Language it is translated with with a sign for “tent” combined with a sign referring to the outer court surrounding the tent (see Exodus 27:9 and following). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Tabernacle” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
See also tabernacle (verb) / dwell, festival of Tabernacles and ark of the covenant.
The cardinal directions “east” and “west” are easy to translate into Maan here since the language uses “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down.” For “north” the translator had “facing toward the sun rising to the left,” and for “south” she had “facing toward the sun rising to the right.” So the listener had to think hard before knowing what direction was in view when translating “to the north and south, to the east and west.” So, in case all four directions are mentioned, it was shortened by saying simply “all directions.” (Source: Don Slager) Likewise, Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) or Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).
Kankanaey is “from the coming-out and the going-away of the sun and the north and the south” (source: Kankanaey back-translation), Northern Emberá “from where the sun comes up, from where it falls, from the looking [left] hand, from the real [right] hand” (source: Charles Mortensen), Amele “from the direction of the sun going up, from the direction of the sun going down, from the north and from the south” (source: John Roberts), Ejamat “look up to see the side where the sun comes from, and the side where it sets, and look on your right side, and on your left” (source: David Frank in this blog post ).
In Lamba, only umutulesuŵa, “where the sun rises” and imbonsi, “where the sun sets” were available as cardinal directions that were not tied to the local area of language speakers (“north” is kumausi — “to the Aushi country” — and “south” kumalenje — “to the Lenje country”). So “north” and “south” were introduced as loanwords, nofu and saufu respectively. The whole phrase is kunofu nakusaufu nakumutulesuŵa nakumbonsi. (Source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff. )
“West” is translated in Tzeltal as “where the sun pours-out” and in Kele as “down-river” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel).
In Morelos Nahuatl, “north” is translated as “from above” and “south” as “from below.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
In Matumbi cardinal directions are defined as in relation to another place. “East” for instance typically is “toward the beach” since the coast is in the eastern direction in Matumbi-speaking areas. “North” and “south” can be defined as above or below another place. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture.
Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”
See also cardinal directions / left and right.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 3:23:
The various Greek, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
The families of the Gershonites were to encamp behind the tabernacle on the west: Verses 23, 29, 35, and 38 give the Levites’ camp positions around the Tent of Meeting. The Gershonites had to encamp on its west side. As in the previous verses, the Hebrew word for families (mishpachah) is better translated “clans” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Again, the singular word “clan” in Good News Translation is misleading. The verb rendered were to encamp (see 1.50) is not in the past tense in Hebrew. The Hebrew form of this verb is the same as in 1.53 and 2.2. Here in verse 23 as well as in 1.53 and 2.2, Luther translates this verb as a command, saying “should encamp” (similarly King James Version, Russian Synodal Orthodox Version). As a command, the Gershonites had to do it repeatedly, that is, whenever they set up their camp. In some languages this verb may be rendered as a repetitive command or in the present or future tense to bring out the list character of the text. The Hebrew verb here certainly allows for such a rendering. However, the translation should not give the wrong impression that the LORD is speaking to Moses here. Verses 23-24 are a statement by the author.
Behind the tabernacle on the west does not contradict 2.18, which speaks about the camp of Ephraim being on the west side of the Tent of Meeting. According to 2.17, the camp of the Levites was closer to the Tent than any other tribe’s camp. The camp of Ephraim was behind the Tent, but not as close as the camp of the Gershonites. This phrase may be rendered “closely behind [or, very close to] the Tent of Meeting on its western side.” For tabernacle see 1.50; for west see 2.18.
With Eliasaph, the son of Lael as head of the fathers’ house of the Gershonites is literally “and a chief of the house of a father for the Gershonites Eliasaph, the son of Lael.” This is actually quite a difficult or potentially ambiguous construction in many languages. It may be clearer to separate the content of verses 23 and 24, even if this results in sentences that are relatively short (so New Century Version). Strictly speaking, the Hebrew does not have head but “chief” (Good News Translation) or “chieftain” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). The Hebrew word for head is nasiʾ, which refers to a prominent and distinguished leader, for example, a sheikh (see the comments on 1.16). In Revised Standard Version fathers’ house seems to be used here in a wider sense than in 1.2 (see the comments there). New Living Translation uses the wider sense by rendering head of the fathers’ house of the Gershonites as “The leader of the Gershonite clans.” However, a rendering such as “the family leader for the Gershonites” (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bijbel: Vertaling in opdracht van het Nederlandsch Bijbelgenootschap) shows a more accurate analysis of the Hebrew construction here, which is literally “a leader of the house of a father for the Gershonites.” In Hebrew fathers’ house is not directly connected with Gershonites. So it remains valid to interpret fathers’ house (or more accurately “father’s house”) in the same way as in 1.2, which is “family.” According to this interpretation, Eliasaph was one of several family chiefs, the one who led the Gershonites. In the end, however, the complications that go with fathers’ house at this point may have to be avoided in translation. A good model that does this for verse 24 is “The chief of the clans of Gershon was Eliasaph, the son of Lael.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is even less complicated with “Their chief was Eliasaph, the son of Lael.”
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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