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.

Phoenician juniper (coastal juniper)

The Phoenician Juniper Juniperus phoenicea is a lower-altitude cousin of the Grecian juniper. At present it is found scattered throughout the mountains of northern Sinai and southern Jordan, and Hepper notes that it occurs throughout the higher parts of Sinai and Arabia. In ancient times it may have been found throughout the Negev. Deuteronomy 2:36 refers to a town on the edge of the Wadi Arnon called Aroer, which is probably cognate with the Hebrew word ‘ar‘ar, indicating that these trees may have grown there. The identification of ‘ar‘ar/‘aro‘er as the Phoenician juniper is supported by the fact that Arabs in several countries call this juniper ‘ar‘ar. Since it is closely related to the cedars, some people also call it the “Phoenician cedar.” Note that Hebrew uses the same word ’erez to cover both the Phoenician juniper and the mighty cedar of Lebanon.

The Phoenician juniper is a short shrub or tree that may reach 5 meters (17 feet). It has tiny leathery leaflets and small berry-like cones.

We advocate translating ’erez as “juniper” in Leviticus and Numbers, if that species is known, or using a transliteration from a major language. The reference to ‘ar‘ar in Jeremiah 17:6 is poetic, and a cultural equivalent may be used; in a more literal version a transliteration may be used. Some scholars take the Hebrew word ‘aro‘er in the last line of Jeremiah 48:6 as meaning “juniper.”

Phoenician juniper, photo by Ray Pritz

Source: Each According to its Kind: Plants and Trees in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)

complete verse (Jeremiah 17:6)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 17:6:

  • Kupsabiny: “That person is like a bush in the desert,
    (he) will not receive anything of life/wellbeing when it has come.
    (He) will grow slowly in a dried up land,
    a land of salt which is inhabitable.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He is like a bush in the desolate-place that has no good future. He will-live in a dry and salty land that no one is dwelling/staying.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They are like dry bushes in the desert,
    they are people who will not experience any good things.
    Those people will live in the barren desert
    in a salty area, where nothing grows.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 17:6

Shrub (Good News Translation “bush”) is translated “barren bush” by New American Bible and “juniper” by Revised English Bible. It would be best to use a general term rather than the name of a particular bush or shrub. (See also Phoenician juniper (coastal juniper))

For desert see 2.6, under “deserts.”

And shall not see any good come is better applied to the person than to the bush, and so Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch place it last in the verse. The rest of the verse is then tied immediately to the picture of a desert shrub (see Good News Translation).

Parched places translates a noun that occurs only here in the Old Testament. It derives from a verb that means “glow” or “burn” (see Ezek 24.11; Job 30.30), and may refer to either an area covered by lava or a stony desert area. In the parched places is translated “among the rocks” by Revised English Bible. Most translators will be able to use something similar to Good News Translation “dry wasteland.”

Wilderness: See 2.2.

Salt land (Good News Translation “salty ground”) translates a noun that occurs in the Old Testament elsewhere only in Job 39.6; Psa 107.34. No vegetation could grow in a salty area, which is perhaps why Good News Translation renders an uninhabited salt land as “salty ground where nothing else grows.” Translators can also say “a salty area, where no one can live.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .