desert / wilderness

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The Greek, Hebrew and Latin that is translated as “desert” or “wilderness” in English is translated in a number of ways:

  • Mairasi: “a place where noisiness is cut off (or: stops)” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Muna: pandaso bhalano pr “big barren-field” (source: René van den Berg)
  • Balinese: “barren field” (source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )
  • Wantoat: “uninhabited place” (source: Holzhausen 1991, p. 38)
  • Umiray Dumaget Agta: “where no people dwell” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “where no house is” (source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
  • Amri Karbi: “waterless region/place” (source: Philippova 2021, p. 368)
  • Ocotlán Zapotec: “large empty place” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Pa’o Karen: “jungle” (denoting a place without any towns, villages and tilled fields) (source: Gordon Luce in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 153f. )
  • Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006: “steppe”
  • Yakan: “the lonely place” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a land where no people lived” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “the place with no inhabitants” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Matumbi uses various term: lubele (desert, sandy place without water) — used in John 11:54, lupu’ngu’ti (a place where no people live, can be a scrub land, a forest, or a savanna) — used in Mark 1:3 et al.), and mwitu (a forest, a place where wild animals live) — used in Mark 1:13 et al.) (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Chichewa Contemporary translation (2002/2016): chipululu: a place uninhabited by people with thick forest and bush (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

Note that in Luke 15:4, usually a term is used that denotes pastoral land, such as “eating/grazing-place” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).

See also wilderness and desolate wilderness.

complete verse (Isaiah 41:18)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 41:18:

  • Kupsabiny: “I shall make water flow from rocky hills
    and open the holes/springs of water in the valley.
    I shall make the desert become a well/pond
    and the dry land become rivers.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “I will cause floods to flow from the naked hills,
    and in the valleys I will produce springs of water.
    I will [put] pools of water in the wilderness
    and I will change the dry ground into springs of water.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I will-cause- the rivers -to-flow on the barren mountains and the springs on the plains/valleys. I will-make the desert into pool-of-waters, and the dry/parched ground into springs.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

1st person pronoun referring to God (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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Isaiah 41:18

In this verse God’s provision of water in the desert is a metaphor for the blessings he will give his exiled people in the new Exodus. He uses two parallel statements each consisting of two parallel lines.

I will open rivers on the bare heights: I will open rivers means God will cause rivers to flow (so Good News Translation). The Hebrew word rendered bare heights refers to hills or mountains that lack any vegetation, including trees. Good News Translation uses “barren hills,” and Revised English Bible has “arid heights.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch speaks of “stony heights.” Such areas are very dry, but God will cause rivers to flow from them.

And fountains in the midst of the valleys: The verb phrase I will open in the previous line is implied here. Translators may repeat it for clarity. Good News Translation uses parallel verbs in the first two lines: “make flow” and “[make] run.” The Hebrew word rendered fountains may refer to “wells” (Revised English Bible) or “springs” (Good News Translation, New International Version, Bible en français courant). See the comments on 12.3, where it is translated “wells.” In this context it is better rendered “springs,” which are places where water bubbles up naturally from the ground.

I will make the wilderness a pool of water continues the metaphor of God’s provision of water in dry places. For the Hebrew word rendered wilderness, see the comments on 14.17, where it is translated “desert.” For pool see 35.7. Good News Translation renders this line as “I will turn the desert into pools of water.”

And the dry land springs of water: The verb phrase I will make in the previous line is implied here. God will turn dry land into a place of springs. For dry land, see 35.1. The Hebrew expression rendered springs of water is synonymous with the word for fountains.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• I will cause rivers to appear on the barren hills
and springs to well up in the valleys;
I will turn the desert into a pool of water,
and the drought-stricken land into sources of water.

• I will make rivers burst forth on the treeless hills,
and springs of water to bubble up in the valleys;
I will make the wilderness into a pool of water,
and water will appear in the dry land.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .