37These are the clans of the Ephraimites by the number of those enrolled: thirty-two thousand five hundred. These are the descendants of Joseph by their clans.
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)
The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Ephraim” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “palm tree” referring to the palm of Deborah in the land of Ephraim (see Judges 4:5. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
This paragraph is about the census of the tribe of Ephraim. It runs parallel to the previous paragraphs in this chapter dealing with the census of other tribes (see the comments on verses 5-7 and 12-14). The clans of Ephraim descended from his sons Shuthelah, Becher and Tahan, and Shuthelah’s son Eran (see 1 Chr 7.20-27).
And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the Eranites: Since only one son of Shuthelah is mentioned here, it will be more helpful in some languages to translate the sons of Shuthelah as “the descendants of Shuthelah” (New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Good News Translation provides a helpful model for this whole sentence by restructuring it as follows: “The clan of Eran traced its descent from Shuthelah.” New Living Translation is even better with “This was the subclan descended from the Shuthelahites: The Eranites, named after their ancestor Eran.”
These are the sons of Joseph according to their families: This clause closes the paragraphs about the descendants of Manasseh and Ephraim. These paragraphs are introduced (verse 28) and closed by a reference to Joseph, their common ancestor. The demonstrative pronoun These points back to all the descendants of Joseph mentioned in verses 28-36. In verse 35 this pronoun points forward to the descendants of Ephraim. In some languages the pronoun These will be rendered differently here than in verse 35 to indicate its precise direction of reference.
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 .
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