family / clan / house

The Hebrew terms that are translated as “family” or “clan” or “house” or similar in English are all translated in Kwere as ng’holo or “clan.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

In the English translation by Goldingay (2018) it is translated as “kin-group.”

See also tribe.

complete verse (Numbers 2:34)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 2:34:

  • Kupsabiny: “So the people of Israel did everything as God had told Moses. Those people set up their tents with each clan having its flag and the clans migrated/moved according to their houses.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “In accordance with the commands that the LORD gave Moses, the Israelites set up camp under their own banners. And each clan and families proceeded [from place to place], staying under its own banner.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “So the Israelinhon did everything the LORD commanded Moises: each tribe camped and marched/traveled/[lit. walked] under their own/[lit. each] banner according to their tribe and family.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The Israelis did everything that Yahweh had told Moses/me. They set up their tents close to their tribal flags, and when they traveled to a new location, they walked with their own clans and family groups.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Moses

The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English is signed in Spanish Sign Language and Polish Sign Language in accordance with the depiction of Moses in the famous statue by Michelangelo (see here ). (Source: John Elwode in The Bible Translator 2008, p. 78ff. )


“Moses” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).

In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:


“Moses” in French Sign Language (source )

The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).

In Swiss-German Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).


“Moses” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)


“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL

In Estonian Sign Language Moses is depicted with a big beard. (Source: Liina Paales in Folklore 47, 2011, p. 43ff. )


“Moses” in Estonian Sign Language, source: Glossary of the EKNK Toompea kogudus

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

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Moses .

Translation commentary on Numbers 2:34

Thus did the people of Israel. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses: Thus is literally “And,” and the Hebrew clause rendered According to all that the LORD commanded Moses is connected to what precedes, so New Revised Standard Version is better here with “The Israelites did just as the LORD had commanded Moses” (similarly Good News Translation). This sentence is similar to 1.54 (see the comments there), thus also serving as a structural marker of the end of a major unit of discourse, namely, chapters 1–2. Within the summary of verses 32 34, verse 34 is an even more general summary than verses 32 33, so Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation begin a new paragraph here also.

So they encamped by their standards, and so they set out, every one in his family, according to his fathers’ house: Both occurrences of the connector so render the Hebrew particle ken. It is repeated in this conclusion to emphasize that the Israelites obeyed the LORD’s explicit commands. For encamped see 1.50; for standards see 1.52; and for set out, see verse 9. Family renders the Hebrew word mishpachah, which refers to a clan (see 1.2), so every one in his family, according to his fathers’ house is better rendered “everyone by clans, according to ancestral homes” (New Revised Standard Version) or “each with his clan and family” (New International Version).

A model for this verse is:

• The people of Israel did everything the LORD had commanded Moses. Indeed, they camped, each under his own banner, and indeed, they marched, each with his clan and family.

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 .