brothers

“Brothers” has to be translated into Naro as “younger brothers and older brothers” (Tsáá qõea xu hẽé / naka tsáá kíí). All brothers are included this way, also because of the kind of plural that has been used. (Source: Gerrit van Steenbergen)

This also must be more clearly defined in Yucateco as older or younger (suku’un or Iits’in), but here there are both older and younger brothers. Yucateco does have a more general word for close relative, family member. (Source: Robert Bascom)

years (age)

In Aekyom, years are counted as “turtles” (ambum).

Norm Mundhenk tells this story:

“Recently I was checking some New Testament material in the Aekyom language of western Papua New Guinea. It seemed relatively clear until suddenly we came to a passage that started, ‘When Jesus had 12 turtles, …’ Surely I had misunderstood what they said.
“‘Did you say that Jesus had 12 turtles?’
“‘Let us explain! Around here there is a certain time every year when river turtles come up on the banks and lay their eggs. Because this is so regular, it can be used as a way of counting years. Someone’s age is said to be how many turtles that person has. So when we say that Jesus had 12 turtles, we mean that Jesus was 12 years old.’
“It was of course the familiar story of Jesus’ trip with his parents to Jerusalem. And certainly, as we all know, Jesus did indeed have 12 turtles at that time!”

In Tok Pisin, krismas (derived from “christmas”) is taken as the fixed annual marker, so Jesus had 12 “christmases” (Jisas i gat 12-pela krismas pinis) or Abram (in Gen. 12:4) had 75 (Abram i gat 75 krismas) (source: Norm Mundhenk). In Noongar it is biroka kadak or “summers had” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

See also advanced in years.

Joseph

The term that is transliterated as “Joseph” in English is translated in American Sign Language with a sign that relates to a) the coat he wore (see Gen 37:3), b) the holding of his clothes by Potiphar’s wife (see Gen 39:12), and c) the many times Joseph experienced grief. (Source: RuthAnna Spooner, Ron Lawer)


“Joseph” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor

In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with a sign that signifies “dream,” referring to Jacob’s dream at Bethel (see Genesis 28:10 and the following verses). (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


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

brother (older brother)

The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “brother” in English is translated in Kwere as sekulu and in Mandarin Chinese as gēgē (哥哥), both “older brother.”

Note that Kwere also uses lumbu — “older sibling” in some cases. (Source for Kwere: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

Jacob

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Jacob” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies “lentil,” referring to the soup he gave his brother in exchange for his birthright (see Genesis 25:34). Note that another Spanish Sign Language sign for Jacob also users the sign for Jewish. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


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

In German Sign Language it is a sign that shows the touching of the hip, described in Genesis 32:25:


“Jacob” in German Sign Language (source: Taub und katholisch )

In Finnish Sign Language it is translated with the signs signifying “smooth arm” (referring to the story starting at Genesis 27:11). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Jacob” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

See also Esau.

complete verse (Genesis 37:2)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 37:2:

  • Kankanaey: “Here then is the story concerning what happened to his children and his grandchildren starting with what happened to Jose. When Jose yeared ten and seven, he was accompanying his siblings who were the children of Bilha and Zilpa the spouses of his father. They were the ones who took care of their sheep and goats. And there-was that which he reported-negatively to his father concerning what they were doing which was bad.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Here is the account of Jacob — When Joseph was 17 years old, he went to graze sheep with his elder brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. One day he went to tell his father of the bad habits of his elder brothers.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “And this is the story about the family of Jacob: When Jose was 17 years old, he was tending/[lit. watching] the animals with his siblings who (were) children of Bilha and Zilpa, the wives of his father. Jose told his father the bad (things) which his siblings had-done.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “This is/I will now tell you what happened to Jacob’s family. When his son Joseph was 17 years old, he was taking care of the flocks of sheep and goats with some of his older brothers. They were sons of his father’s concubines/female slaves that he had taken to be his secondary wives. Joseph sometimes told his father about bad things that his brothers were doing.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 37:2

This is the history of the family of Jacob: for history see the comments on toledoth under Gen 37.1. The Handbook takes This to point forward to the Joseph story beginning here. The statement may also be expressed, for example, as “This is the story of Jacob’s family” or “These are the things that happened in Jacob’s family.” In many languages this is the customary and natural opening of a story; and some translators may wish to place it before the statement of verse 1: “This is the story of … Jacob was still living in Canaan, the land where….”

If the translator prefers to interpret verse 2a as pointing back to chapter 36, then it is best to make the words of 37.1-2a a conclusion to chapter 36. In that case history must be translated by a word or expression equivalent to “genealogy” or “list of descendants” (Anchor Bible, “Such, then, is the line of Jacob”).

If the division and subdivision headings are not sufficient as introduction to this part, it may be necessary to open the story of Joseph by making verse 2b a time clause; for example, “When Joseph was seventeen years old, he and his brothers tended the flocks….”

Joseph, being seventeen years old is literally “Joseph a son of seventeen years.” For a similar use of this Hebrew idiom, see 17.1. We may restructure this to say, for example, “When Joseph was seventeen years old….”

Was shepherding the flock: that is, he was caring for or looking after the flock. Flock refers to sheep and goats. See Good News Translation.

His brothers; he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah: in many versions his brothers is taken to mean the same as the sons of Jacob’s concubines (see 22.24) Bilhah and Zilpah. These brothers were Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher; and because they were not all the brothers Joseph had, some translations say “some of his brothers:….” But this interpretation assumes that the words he was a lad with only serve to link the two expressions. The Hebrew, which is rendered literally in Revised Standard Version, may also have a different sense, namely that out of all his brothers he was usually in the company of the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. New Revised Standard Version and Anchor Bible also take this to be the sense; but they take the Hebrew word for lad in the sense of “servant” or “assistant” rather than as “a youth,” giving a translation like “he was a helper to…” or “he was assisting….” Translators may follow either interpretation. Note also that in some languages brothers who have the same father but different mothers are called by a special term.

Brought an ill report of them means Joseph told his father that his brothers were doing something bad. There is no way of knowing what this may have been. The same expression is used in Num 14.37, in which the scouts brought back to Moses “an evil report” about the land. We may translate, for example, “Joseph told his father about the bad conduct of his brothers” or “Joseph told his father that his brothers did things they should not do.” In some languages there are special terms for telling about the bad deeds of others; in English, for example, “Joseph reported them to his father.”

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 .