The town name that is transliterated as “Bethlehem” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the signs signifying “manger + town” (referring to Luke 2:7). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
In American Sign Language it is translated with the signs for “bread” and “house,” referring to the original meaning of “Bethlehem” as “house of bread.” (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Bethlehem” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Chronicles 2:54:
Kupsabiny: “These people hailed from the house/family of Salma: those who lived in the city of Bethlehem, the clan of Netophathites, the people who lived in Atroth-beth-joab, half of the clan of Manahathites and the clan of Zorites.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “The Bethlehem descendants of Salma, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, one half of the Manahathites, and the Zorites, and” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The descendants of Salma were those of/from-Betlehem, those of/from-Netofa, those of/from-Atrot Bet Joab, the half of the Manahatnon, the Zorhanon,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
The sons of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites is literally “The sons of Salma Bethlehem and Netophathites Atroth-beth-joab, and half of the Manahathites the Zorites.”
Salma was named in verse 51 as the second son of Hur.
Probably the Hebrew word for “father” was accidentally omitted before the word Bethlehem. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente begins this verse with “From Salma descended the population of Bethlehem…” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Another possibility would be to translate Bethlehem as “the inhabitants of Bethlehem” (La Bible du Semeur) or “the people of Bethlehem” (Bible en français courant).
Two of David’s mighty men were from the town of “Netophah” (see 1 Chr 11.30), which was located about 8 kilometers (5 miles) southeast of Bethlehem.
The Hebrew name Atroth-beth-joab means “crown of the house of Joab.” Nothing more is known of this town.
Many translations take the Zorites to be in apposition to half of the Manahathites. This is the basis for the Good News Translation rendering “the Zorites, who were one of the two clans in Manahath.” Others, on the other hand, take these two groups as distinct and separate; for example, Einheitsübersetzung and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente say “[the] half of the Manahathites and the Zorites.”
Since Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch corrected the last part of verse 52 to read “the half of the inhabitants of Manahath,” it translates the end of this verse as “the other half of the inhabitants of Manahath, who came from Zorah.” It is possible that the Hebrew words for Zorites and “Zorathites” (verse 53) refer to the same people.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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