Philistines

The term that is transliterated as “Philistines” in English is translated in American Sign Language with a sign that signifies the helmet the Philistine warriors wore was decorated with feather-like objects. (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“Philistines” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Philistines (source: Bible Lands 2012)

Abraham

The name that is transliterated as “Abraham” in English is translated in the vast majority of sign languages, including American Sign Language with the sign signifying “hold back arm” (referring to Genesis 22:12).


“Abraham” in American Sign Language (source )

In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with a sign for that demonstrates his new destiny. Previously, he had been called to wander from his home, and the name “Abram” reflected this movement (see here). The new sign name is in one location and stays there, showing Abraham will be given a land to call his own. At this time, Abraham was in the southern part of Canaan, which is shown on the base arm by the location near the elbow. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)


“Abraham” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL

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

In Tira it is transliterated as Abaram. The choice of this, rather than the widely-known “Ibrahim,” as used in the Tira translation of the Qu’ran, was to offset it against the Muslim transliteration which originates from Arabic. (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )

Click or tap here to see two short video clips about Abraham (source: Bible Lands 2012)

See also our ancestor Abraham and Abram.

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Abraham .

complete verse (Genesis 26:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 26:15:

  • Kankanaey: “They filled-in with soil all the water-fetching-places that the slaves of his father Abraham had-dug in his time.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then, pushing down stones and earth, they covered the wells that his father Abraham’s servants had dug while he was still living.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “In their jealousy of Isaac, they filled-in soil into the wells that had-been-dug in time-past by the servants of his father Abraham.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So all the wells that the servants of his father Abraham had dug during the time when he was alive, the people filled up with dirt.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 26:15

Revised Standard Version treats verse 15 as a comment or explanation in anticipation of the information that will come in verse 18. Because this comment is relative to a verse that still lies ahead, Revised Standard Version places it between parentheses. However, other versions such as Speiser, Good News Translation, New International Version, take verse 15 as part of the present story line, an action of the people of Gerar resulting from their jealousy of Isaac’s prosperity. These versions all begin the verse with “So….” Some translations in other languages join the first part of this verse to the last part of the previous verse in the same sentence; for example, “Those Philistine people were jealous of him, and they filled in all the wells….”

Stopped and filled with earth all the wells: stopped renders a verb meaning to stop up or close up by filling in (with dirt). The verb is used in 2 Kgs 3.19, 25 of stopping up springs of water. And filled with earth tells how they stopped up the wells. For an alternate way of expressing this, see Good News Translation. For wells see discussion of 21.19.

Which his father … his father: this may need to be expressed differently to avoid some repetition; for example, “which his father’s servants had dug when Abraham was still alive.” It may be desirable to rearrange verse 15 so that the events follow each other in the order they happened. For example, “When his father Abraham was still alive, Abraham’s servants had dug some wells, but later the Philistines had filled them in” or “Before, in the time when his father Abraham was living, his father’s workers had dug wells there, but now because of their jealousy the Philistines went and filled them in again.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .