Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 75:6:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“Settling cases does not come from the east or the west
or the wilderness.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“There may be no one,
whether from the east, the west, the north, or the south,
who is able to lift a person up.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“What God says (is) right/fitting, for what a person/man exalts/[lit. makes-high] does- not -come from anywhere” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“There is no one who come from east or west
or from desert who would glorifies a person.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Hukumu haitoki mashariki,
au magharibi, au porini.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“The one who judges people does not come from the east or from the west,
and he does not come from the desert.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
According to Anne Garber Kompaoré (in Le Sycomore 3/2009, p. 34ff. ), there are 4 ways to identify cardinal directions:
1. celestial bodies, especially the sun and certain stars
2. geographical landmarks, for example a mountain, sea, or river (depending on its position or the direction in which the water flows) etc.
3. climatic phenomena, such as the wind and the direction from which rain comes
4. bodily reference points, especially front, back, left, and right, in relation to celestial bodies or geographical landmarks
Following are examples of how these are practically implemented by various languages: (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)
Celestial Bodies
East and west are often translated by the rising and the setting of the sun (note that the origin of English and other Indo-European languages is “dawn” for “east” and “evening” [i.e. sun-down] for “west”):
Maan: “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down” (source: Don Slager)
Kankanaey: “from the coming-out of the sun “and “going-away of the sun” (source: Kankanaey back-translation)
Northern Emberá: “from where the sun comes up” and “from where the sun falls” (source: Charles Mortensen)
Ejamat “the side where the sun comes from” and “the side where it sets” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
Tzeltal: “where the sun pours-out” (west) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Northern Ngbandi: “the sun behind the chief’s house” (east — the chief lives traditionally at the eastern side of the village, therefore he does not get the sunlight into his eyes) and “under the sun” (west)
Northwestern Dinka: “earth behind” (east — the place behind the earth, i.e. the area where the sun rises)
Jula: “salt village” (north — because salt comes from the north, from the Sahara Desert) and “kola village” (south — since kola comes from the coastal region to the south) (source: Garber Kompaoré)
Matumbi: “toward the beach” (East) (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)
Acoli: “right” (of the local White Nile) (north) and “left” (of the White Nile) (south)
Zande: “interior (dry) land” (east); “place-inside-country” (north / south) — Zande, like a number of other languages, including Matengo and Hehe, traditionally only has three cardinal directions.
Belanda Bor: “lower place” (north) and “higher place” (south)
Turkana: “(up)stream” (north) and (down)stream (south)
Mono (DRC): “water place” (south) (source for this and five above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Climatic Phenomena
Shilluk: “opening westwind” (north) and “opening eastwind” (south)
Swahili used to have six directions. In reducing them to four, kusini and kaskazini which used to refer to south-west and north east respectively (the directions from where the two monsoons blow) have become the terms for “south” and north.” (source for this and one above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Bodily Reference Points
Nuer / Burun: “face” and “sun face” respectively (both: east)
Kalenjin: “eye sun” (east) (this and the one above indicate that the sun is “facing” the spectator from its position in the east:
Shilluk: doesn’t use a fixed position of the speaker, instead it has “eye sun morning” for east and “eye sun evening” for west
Mono (DRC): “foot-sun” (east — the start of the sun’s journey)
Burun: “sun leg” (west — the end of the sun’s journey)
Bari: “back” (north — when people are facing south, north is at their back) (source for this and above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Northern Emberá “the looking [left] hand” (north) and “the real [right] hand” (south) (source: Charles Mortensen)
Morelos Nahuatl: “from above” (north) and “from below” (south) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
When all four directions are mentioned, translators tend to avoid listing the four, sometimes verbose terms, and chose solutions like “all directions” (such as in Maan or Manya (source: Don Slager). Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) and Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).
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.”
In these verses the psalmist proclaims God as the only one who judges all humankind. Good News Translation aids the reader in verses 2-5 with quotes and “says God.” In many languages it will be necessary to make even more evident that at verse 6 God has ceased speaking and the psalmist now speaks again. In languages which require placing the source of a quotation at the end of the quote, it may be necessary to indicate the switch in speakers with a subtitle before verse 6.
Verse 6 is variously understood: the first line is clearly “not from the sunrise (east) or from the sunset (west)”; the second line seems in the Masoretic text to be “and not from the desert of the mountains” (so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate). Commentators (Briggs, Weiser, Anderson, Dahood) and translations (Good News Translation, An American Translation, New American Bible) take this to be a reference to the other two cardinal points: “the desert” represents the south, and “the mountains” (of Lebanon) represent the north. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates this line “neither from the desert nor from the mountains.” But the word translated “the mountains” can be read as a form of the verb “to raise”; so Oesterley. Revised Standard Version has lifting up (probably in the sense of “help”; see Biblia Dios Habla Hoy); equally New Jerusalem Bible “For what lifts a man…,” and New English Bible “raise a man up”; also New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible.6-7 Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says that the Hebrew word may be understood either as “lifting up” or “mountains.” In the first case the translation of the line would be “nor from the desert (comes) exaltation”; in the second case it would be “nor from the desert of the mountains.” Bible en français courant has “Know that greatness comes neither from the east nor from the west, nor yet from the desert.” In Hebrew there may be a play on the words translated lifting up in verse 6b and lifting up in verse 7b (in Hebrew the two are not identical). This can be carried over into translation, as Revised Standard Version does; but it should be remembered that the first word may mean “mountains.”
Though it is impossible to be dogmatic, Good News Translation is a defensible rendering and can be followed. Otherwise, it is recommended that Bible en français courant be imitated, although the connection between verse 6 and verse 7 is not very clear.
If the translator follows the interpretation of verse 6 as used by Good News Translation, it will not be clear just what will not come from the four directions. Good News Translation has made it explicit, on the basis of verse 7, by adding “Judgment.” Good News Translation‘s “Judgment does not come…” must often be recast as “God’s judgment…” or “the one who judges….” The four directions vary greatly in languages and are often related to local geography; for example, “downstream,” “upstream,” “toward the mountains,” or “toward the sea.”
God alone is the judge (verse 7); he condemns (literally “puts down”) some and acquits (“raises”) others. Good News Translation‘s “acquitting” is sometimes rendered “saying that he is innocent” or “saying that he has done no wrong.” Or else the opposites, “honoring … humbling,” “making important … making worthless,” may be used.
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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