family / clan / house

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.

Simeon

The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Simeon” or “Simon” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies “swords,” referring to the traditional Jewish symbol for the tribe. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


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

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

More information under Tribe of Simeon .

complete verse (Exodus 6:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 6:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “And the men who come from Simeon are: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul whose mother was from Canaan. Those descendants/clans were from the house/family of Simeon.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul who was the son by a Canaanite woman. These were the descendants of Simeon.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The male children of Simeon they were-namely Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul, (This Shaul was the child of Simeon from a/the Canaanhon woman.) They and their descendants were-namely the families who came-from Simeon.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “Simeon’s male children’s names were as follows: Iemuel and Iamin and Oat and Iakin and Soar and Saul. Saul’s mother was a woman of Kenan. These people were leading in the families [descended] from Simeon.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “And male children of Simeon be Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul who be son of woman of Canaan. These people be family of Simeon.” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul. Shaul’s mother was a woman from the Canaan people-group. Those men also were ancestors of clans that have those same names.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Exod 6:15

The sons of Simeon were the immediate male offspring of Simeon, who was the second son of Jacob. The six names, including the phrase the son of a Canaanite woman, are given here exactly as they are in Gen 46.10. Shaul is spelled “Saul” in New English Bible and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, for the name is the same in the Hebrew. To identify him as the son of a Canaanite woman distinguishes him from the King Saul, who lived much later. But the purpose in this genealogy was probably to identify him as the son whose mother came from one of the non-Israelite tribes living in the territory called Canaan.

These are the families of Simeon points back to the six names just mentioned, but they became the names of the “Simeonite clans” (Translator’s Old Testament). Good News Translation is clear: “they were the ancestors of the clans that bear their name”; but one may also say something like “they were the great fathers [or, big grandfathers] of the clans.” (For other ways of expressing “ancestors,” see the comment at 3.6.)

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .