cardinal directions

The cardinal directions “east” and “west” are easy to translate into Maan here since the language uses “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down.” For “north” the translator had “facing toward the sun rising to the left,” and for “south” she had “facing toward the sun rising to the right.” So the listener had to think hard before knowing what direction was in view when translating “to the north and south, to the east and west.” So, in case all four directions are mentioned, it was shortened by saying simply “all directions.” (Source: Don Slager) Likewise, Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) or Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).

Kankanaey is “from the coming-out and the going-away of the sun and the north and the south” (source: Kankanaey back-translation), Northern Emberá “from where the sun comes up, from where it falls, from the looking [left] hand, from the real [right] hand” (source: Charles Mortensen), Amele “from the direction of the sun going up, from the direction of the sun going down, from the north and from the south” (source: John Roberts), Ejamat “look up to see the side where the sun comes from, and the side where it sets, and look on your right side, and on your left” (source: David Frank in this blog post).

In Lamba, only umutulesuŵa, “where the sun rises” and imbonsi, “where the sun sets” were available as cardinal directions that were not tied to the local area of language speakers (“north” is kumausi — “to the Aushi country” — and “south” kumalenje — “to the Lenje country”). So “north” and “south” were introduced as loanwords, nofu and saufu respectively. The whole phrase is kunofu nakusaufu nakumutulesuŵa nakumbonsi. (Source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff.)

“West” is translated in Tzeltal as “where the sun pours-out” and in Kele as “down-river” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel).

In Morelos Nahuatl, “north” is translated as “from above” and “south” as “from below.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture.

Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”

See also cardinal directions / left and right.

LORD God / Lord God

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated in English as “Lord God” or “Lord God” encountered an issue in Tok Pisin. Norm Mundhenk explains why (in The Bible Translator 1985, p. 442ff. ):

“I am not aware of any serious objections to either the word God [for “God”] or Bikpela [for YHWH] alone. However, when trying to translate the expression ‘the Lord God,’ the translators first tried to use Bikpela God. But Bikpela is also an adjective meaning ‘big’ and in the expression Bikpela God, it would usually be understood as “Big God,’ as though there were other smaller gods around also.

“In the Old Testament, as the recent articles have clearly pointed out, the English word ‘Lord‘ often stands for the Hebrew name of God, YHWH, which is usually spelled these days as Yahweh. With this in mind, the name Yawe was tried in Tok Pisin, but it was felt that most readers did not connect this strange name with God. Eventually, we decided to keep Bikpela, but to translate ‘Lord God’ as God, Bikpela, literally ‘God, the Lord.’

“The reason for this decision was really only that the words could be used naturally in this order, without the problem of giving a wrong meaning which we had when putting Bikpela first. It was not until some people asked if it was right to ‘turn around’ the name and the title in this way that we realized that there was really a deeper reason for doing what we did. In fact, for most speakers of Tok Pisin, God is the only God they know, and it seems likely that God is understood as the personal name of God, rather than as a class name. Bikpela, on the other hand, is a class name — there can be more than one Bikpela, though it is recognized that God is the greatest of them and there is no confusion when he is referred to simply as Bikpela. Thus, in Hebrew an expression like ‘YHWH, the God of Israel,’ has the personal name first, followed by the class name explaining who he is. And we have exactly the same situation in Tok Pisin when we say God, Bikpela bilong Isrel. I suspect that in many other languages which have borrowed the word ‘God,’ we might find that it has been borrowed basically as a personal name, rather than as a class name.”

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 20:47

Say to the forest of the Negeb: God tells Ezekiel to speak to the southern forest. Although it may sound strange in some languages for God to speak to a forest, it is best to translate this literally if possible (compare 6.1-7).

For Thus says the Lord GOD, see Ezek 20.3. God uses these two traditional prophetic formulas to introduce the prophecy here. This stresses its importance.

Behold renders the attention-getting Hebrew particle hinneh. Here it highlights the words that follows. It is best to look for an appropriate natural equivalent; for example, Good News Translation says “Look!” and New Jerusalem Bible has “Listen.” However, it may also be omitted if that fits the language best.

I will kindle a fire in you means God will start a fire in the southern forest area. New Century Version says “I am ready to start a fire in you” (similarly Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version).

And it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree means the fire will burn all the trees, even those that are still alive and green. This clause shows the intensity of the fire and the completeness of the judgment.

The blazing flame shall not be quenched means the fire will continue to burn and no one will be able to put it out. Blazing flame renders two similar Hebrew words that mean “burning fire.” King James Version reflects their similarity by saying “flaming flame.” If the passive verb be quenched needs to be expressed as an active one, this clause may be rendered “No one will be able to put it out the blazing fire.”

And all faces from south to north shall be scorched by it: This clause refers to the total destruction that the judgment will cause. All faces probably refers to the people living in the land of Israel, so Good News Translation and Revised English Bible say “everyone” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). However, some translations take this expression to refer to the natural elements of the forest; for example, Contemporary English Version and New Living Translation say “everything,” and New American Standard Bible has “the whole surface [of the ground].” We recommend “everyone” or “the faces of every person.” From south to north shows that the judgment will cover the whole country and no one will escape. South renders the same Hebrew word translated Negeb, so New Jerusalem Bible says “from the Negeb to the north” (similarly Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible). Most languages will have some natural way of saying from south to north even if they do not use the directions, for example, “from one end of the land to the other.” Be scorched by it means “feel the heat of the flames” (Good News Translation; similarly New Century Version) or “be burned by it” (New American Standard Bible). This passive verb may be expressed as an active one by rendering this whole clause as “and the fire will burn the faces of every person from south to north.”

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .