The name that is transliterated as “Abraham” in English is translated in virtually all sign languages, including American Sign Language with the sign signifying “hold back arm” (referring to Genesis 22:12).
In Tira it is transliterated as Abaram. The choice of this, rather than the widely-known “Ibrahim,” as used in the Tira translation of the Qu’ran, was to offset it against the Muslim transliteration which originates from Arabic. (Source: J.A. Naudé, C.L. Miller Naudé, J.O. Obono in Acta Theologica 43/2, 2023, p. 129ff. )
Click or tap here to see two short video clips about Abraham (source: Bible Lands 2012)
The term that is transliterated as “Philistines” in English is translated in American Sign Language with a sign that signifies the helmet the Philistine warriors wore was decorated with feather-like objects. (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Philistines” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Philistines (source: Bible Lands 2012)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 26:15:
Kankanaey: “They filled-in with soil all the water-fetching-places that the slaves of his father Abraham had-dug in his time.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “Then, pushing down stones and earth, they covered the wells that his father Abraham’s servants had dug while he was still living.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “In their jealousy of Isaac, they filled-in soil into the wells that had-been-dug in time-past by the servants of his father Abraham.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “So all the wells that the servants of his father Abraham had dug during the time when he was alive, the people filled up with dirt.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Revised Standard Version treats verse 15 as a comment or explanation in anticipation of the information that will come in verse 18. Because this comment is relative to a verse that still lies ahead, Revised Standard Version places it between parentheses. However, other versions such as Speiser, Good News Translation, New International Version, take verse 15 as part of the present story line, an action of the people of Gerar resulting from their jealousy of Isaac’s prosperity. These versions all begin the verse with “So….” Some translations in other languages join the first part of this verse to the last part of the previous verse in the same sentence; for example, “Those Philistine people were jealous of him, and they filled in all the wells….”
Stopped and filled with earth all the wells: stopped renders a verb meaning to stop up or close up by filling in (with dirt). The verb is used in 2 Kgs 3.19, 25 of stopping up springs of water. And filled with earth tells how they stopped up the wells. For an alternate way of expressing this, see Good News Translation. For wells see discussion of 21.19.
Which his father … his father: this may need to be expressed differently to avoid some repetition; for example, “which his father’s servants had dug when Abraham was still alive.” It may be desirable to rearrange verse 15 so that the events follow each other in the order they happened. For example, “When his father Abraham was still alive, Abraham’s servants had dug some wells, but later the Philistines had filled them in” or “Before, in the time when his father Abraham was living, his father’s workers had dug wells there, but now because of their jealousy the Philistines went and filled them in again.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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