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.

obedience / obey

The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, and Greek that is translated in English typically as “obedience” or “obey” is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “thing hearing,” because “to hear is to obey.” (Source: Marjorie Davis in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 34ff. )

In Huba it is translated as hya nǝu nyacha: “follow (his) mouth.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )

In Central Mazahua it is translated as “listen-obey” and in Huehuetla Tepehua as “believe-obey” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), and in Noongar as dwangka-don, lit. “hear do” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).

See also disobedience.

complete verse (Numbers 14:22)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 14:22:

  • Kupsabiny: “there is no person among these people who shall be alive until he gets what I promised. These people saw my greatness which I have and they saw the things of wonder that I did in Egypt and the wilderness, but they have despised my words.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “these Israelites who have not obeyed my commands and who have tested my heart many times even though they saw the my glory and my amazing work in Egypt and in the wilderness,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “not one of them can-enter the land which I had-promised to their ancestors. For even if they saw my mighty presence and the miracles which I did in Egipto and in the desert, they always still test me and they do- not -obey me. Therefore the ones-who-reject me can- never ever -enter that land.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “All these people saw my glory and all the miracles that I performed in Egypt and in the desert, but they disobeyed me, and many times they tested whether they could continue to do evil things without my punishing them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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 Numbers 14:21 - 14:23

But truly renders the waw conjunction and a strong contrastive conjunction in Hebrew (ʾulam; compare Exo 9.16). These two conjunctions are better rendered “Nevertheless” or “On the other hand.” The LORD had forgiven his people (verse 20), but they still had to bear the punishment for their rebellious attitude and behavior.

As I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD is literally “[by] the life of me and all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD,” which marks the LORD’s words as an oath. The oath itself starts in verse 22. Good News Translation makes it clearer that these emphatic words introduce an oath by saying “I promise that as surely as I live and as surely as my presence fills the earth.” Some African languages render as I live as “I swear by myself” for naturalness. The glory of the LORD may refer to “the dazzling light of the LORD’s presence,” as in verse 10 (see the comments there). Since the LORD is speaking here, in some languages it will be awkward to refer to him in the third person. Good News Translation solves this problem by replacing of the LORD with the first person pronoun “my.” Another possible model is “of me, the LORD.”

None of the men who have seen my glory and my signs which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness …: Good News Translation begins this clause with “none of these people will live to enter that land….” By including the phrase “will live to enter that land,” Good News Translation can introduce a sentence break in verse 22. (Verses 21-23a form a very long sentence in Revised Standard Version and New International Version, too long to be natural in most languages, including English.) The Hebrew word for men refers to both males and females in this context, so Good News Translation says “people” and Contemporary English Version has “Israelites.” Signs may be rendered “miracles” (Good News Translation), as in verse 11 (see the comments there).

And yet have put me to the proof these ten times: Put me to the proof may be rendered “tested me” (Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation) or “challenged me” (Revised English Bible, Levine). The Hebrew verb here (nasah) is used in a bad sense, so this phrase may also be translated “provoked me” or “had doubts about me” (Chewa). The phrase these ten times implies “too many times” (Contemporary English Version) or “over and over again” (Good News Translation), but there is no reason to leave out the number ten. Early Jewish commentators made various suggestions concerning the ten specific acts of rebellion that might be implied here.

And have not hearkened to my voice may be rendered “and have refused to obey me” (Good News Translation) or simply “and have disobeyed me” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

Shall see the land: Because of its restructuring, Good News Translation can begin a new sentence here, saying “They will never enter the land.” The negative oath formula here in Hebrew makes this a very strong assertion, which should be expressed somehow in translation. The people had rejected the land that God had promised them, so now he declares that they will never see it at all.

Which I swore to give to their fathers: See the comments on 11.12.

And none of those who despised me shall see it: Since this sentence repeats what the LORD has just said, it emphasizes his oath. Good News Translation expresses this emphasis well by saying “None of those who have rejected me will ever enter it.” For the Hebrew verb rendered despised, see verse 11.

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 .