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)

complete verse (Genesis 48:22)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 48:22:

  • Newari: “I have given you one more field on the mountain than [I gave] to your brothers. I took that field from the Amorites by the power of my sword and bow.'” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “And you (pl.) Jose will-inherit Shekem and not your siblings/(brothers). That place I possessed when fighting-against the Amornon.'” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “And it is to you, not to your brothers, that I will give the fertile hill in the Shechem area. I captured that land from the Amor people-group, fighting them with my sword and my bow and arrows.'” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 48:22

Translators who compare various versions will note that this verse is rendered differently by many translations and is understood in various ways by interpreters.

The core problem is in the meaning or meanings of Shechem. In the context of this verse, it may refer to the district or the town of Shechem located on the slope of Mount Gerizim in Canaan. However, the word also means “shoulder” or “back.” In this sense it may refer to the slope or side of the mountain where Shechem is located. It may also refer to the “shoulder” of a sacrificial animal, which was the choice part of the meat. See 1 Sam 9.23-24. Revised Standard Version takes Shechem to refer to a mountain slope; New English Bible “one ridge of land.” Good News Translation understands Shechem to refer to “the area of Shechem” and takes the secondary sense as an allusion to the choice part of meat, as explained above, which it translates as “that fertile region.” New Revised Standard Version has revised Revised Standard Version mountain slope to say “one portion more than to your brothers.” The New Revised Standard Version footnote says “Or mountain slope (Hebshekem, a play on the name of the town and district of Shechem).” Anchor Bible calls the double meaning of Shechem/shoulder an “obscure allusion.”

In view of the problem of arriving at a sure translation here, the Handbook recommends translating, for example, “I now give you [singular] more than I give to your brothers. I give you the mountainside of Shechem….” Examples of other translations are “The land in the region of Shechem is very good land … I am giving this piece of land to you and not to your brothers” and “Joseph, the land at Shechem is rich … and I won’t give it to your brothers. I want to give it only to you.”

Which I took from the … bow: that is, “which I captured from the Amorites.” With my sword … bow means “fighting against them with my sword and bow.” If the reader is likely to understand that Jacob fought using a bow without arrows, it will be necessary to add, for example, “my bow and arrows.” If these weapons are not familiar, we may use a more general term and say, for example, “I fought them and defeated them with my weapons.”

It is unlikely that this statement refers to the slaughter of Shechem in chapter 34, where Jacob said that Simeon and Levi had got him into trouble. There is no reference in Genesis to the conquest of Shechem, and there is also no reason to believe that Simeon and Levi kept the town in their possession after their raid.

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 .