The grapes of Canaan (image)

Hand colored stencil print on washi by Sadao Watanabe (1983).

Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe.

For other images of Sadao Watanabe art works in TIPs, see here.

complete verse (Numbers 13:24)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 13:24:

  • Kupsabiny: “That place was called the valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of those grapes that the spies cut off.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Since a cluster of grapes Israelites cut from there, from then on that place was named Eshcol valley.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “That place-where- water -flows was-called Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes that the Israelinhon had-cut-off.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They called that place Eshcol which means ‘cluster’ because they had cut that huge cluster of grapes there.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Numbers 13:24

Good News Translation puts parentheses around this verse since it provides information that is off the storyline.

That place was called the Valley of Eshcol: As the footnotes in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation indicate, the name Eshcol means “bunch/cluster [of grapes].” But it may be more effective to include this information in the translation itself by rendering the Valley of Eshcol as “Eshcol Wadi (that is, Grape Cluster Wadi)” (similarly Bible en français courant, La Nouvelle Bible Segond) or simply “Grapes Wadi” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

Because of the cluster which the men of Israel cut down from there explains why the valley was called Eshcol. See the comments on the previous verse.

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .