inherit land

The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “inherit land” in various forms in English is translated in Kwere as “take land to be their own” or similar in these verses when Israel or a part of Israel “inherits” land from God. In Kwere, uhazi or “inheritance,” as in possessions etc. can only be received upon someone’s death. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Numbers 34:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 34:2:

  • Kupsabiny: “to tell these words to the Israelites: ‘When you have entered Canaan, that country that I am going to give to be yours, your borders shall stay/be:” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Say to the Israelites, ‘After you have arrived in the land of Canaan, the boundaries of the inheritance that I will give you will be like this, ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Tell the Israelinhon that if they now will-enter Canaan, this is the boundary of the land which they are-to-inherit:” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘Tell this to the Israeli people: You will soon enter Canaan land, and it will become yours. These will be the borders of the land:” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Numbers 34:1 - 34:2

The LORD said to Moses: See the comments on 1.1.

Command the people of Israel, and say to them: Good News Translation uses indirect speech for this quote frame, as in 33.51 (see the comments there).

When you enter the land of Canaan: The Hebrew pronoun for you is plural, referring to the Israelites.

This is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, the land of Canaan in its full extent: There is no need to put this statement in parentheses (see the model below). Since the verb fall is used here, there is no indication who will divide the land. Rashi, the Jewish medieval commentator, noted that this verb is used because the land was divided by lot. However, the lot was used to allow the LORD to divide the land, so Good News Translation renders the land that shall fall to you as “the land which I am giving you” (similarly Reina-Valera Contemporánea), which can be a model in languages where the agent should be specified for naturalness.

The Hebrew term for inheritance is nachalah, which refers to inherited property that must not be sold or taken away (see 16.14; 33.54). New International Version renders for an inheritance as “as an inheritance,” which is more natural in English. Chewa says “that it will become your inheritance.”

The phrase the land of Canaan in its full extent (literally “the land of Canaan according to its borders”) may give the wrong suggestion that the land of Canaan included the area east of the Jordan River. So New Revised Standard Version says “the land of Canaan defined by its boundaries,” which is closer to the Hebrew.

In Revised Standard Version the sentence in the last half of verse 2 continues into verse 3. But the Hebrew allows for this sentence to finish within verse 2 (so Good News Translation, Bijbel: Vertaling in opdracht van het Nederlandsch Bijbelgenootschap, Buber, Luther). The following model ends the sentence in verse 2:

• When you enter the land of Canaan, this [as follows] will be the land that will fall to you as an inheritance, the land of Canaan, defined by its boundaries:….

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 .