complete verse (Numbers 32:40)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 32:40:

  • Kupsabiny: “So, Moses gave the house of Machir to live in the land of Gilead.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Since it was like that, Moses gave Gilead to the descendants of Machir, son of Manasseh and they stayed there.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Therefore Moises gave Gilead to the descendants of Makir, who are also the descendants of Manases, and they lived there.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So Moses/I gave Gilead to the family of Makir, and they started to live there.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

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:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

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 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).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

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 Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff. )


“Moses” in Estonian Sign Language, source: Glossary of the EKNK Toompea kogudus

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Moses .

Translation commentary on Numbers 32:40

And Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh: Since verse 39 offers the reason for verse 40, the conjunction And may be rendered “So/so” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, NET, New Jewish Publication Society Version, Vulgate), “Then/then” (Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, PV, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Levine), or “Therefore/therefore” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Dutch Common Language Version). In this context the verb gave is better rendered “allocated,” “apportioned,” or “assigned.” Moses did not assign the land of Gilead just to Machir himself, but to “the clan of Machir” (Good News Bible).

And he settled in it: For settled see 21.25. Since Machir’s whole clan is in view here, this clause may be rendered “and they lived there” (Good News Bible).

TLA combines and reorders verses 39 and 40 to express clearly the relationship between them as follows:
• Moses gave the lands of the region of Gilead to the descendants of Machir, who was the son of Manasseh, because they drove [or, had driven] out the Amorites that lived there. Therefore they settled in that region.

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 .