13 August 2022 draft-bible
1. Negev. Hebrew negeb, a specific region to the south of Canaan, known today as ‘the Negev’. If the translation ‘south’ is to be used, then the ASV and WEB are correct to capitalize it as a proper noun. In fact, since Abram is traveling from Egypt to the south of Canaan, the actual direction of his movement is north, or north-east, but certainly not south. For this reason, the KJV’s rendering “into the south”, with an uncapitalized ‘south’, could be misleading. Many translations read “Negev” or “Negeb” here, including the NIV, ESV, CSB, NAB, NET, NRSV, and NHEB.
2. livestock. Hebrew miqneh. This word can refer to a range of domestic animals, and so cattle, which to many readers will suggest bovines, is too narrow.
6. was not able to support them living together. Hebrew wᵉlo-naśa otam ha-areṣ lašebet yaḥdaw. In the ASV and WEB renderings here, the syntax seems to get unnecessarily complex.
6. because their possessions were too great for them to live together. Literally, ‘because their property was great, and they were not able to live together’. All three translations here rearrange the syntax to one degree or another, so I’ve attempted to make the resulting English as straightforward as possible.
7. strife. The ASV’s “a strife” is not permitted in today’s English, and the indefinite article does not exist in Hebrew anyway.
7. livestock. As in verse 2.
7. herdsmen. In this verse, I am translating the entire phrase roʿei miqneh as ‘herdsman’. Translated literally, it is something like ‘shepherds of domestic herbivores’, although this is a far more awkward translation than the Hebrew phrase. The WEB and ASV break up the phrase, translating it as “herdsmen of … cattle” and “herdsmen of … livestock”. The WEB’s rendering is preferable to that of the ASV insofar as miqneh is a general term that refers to more than just bovines, but really both WEB and ASV translations seem here like overkill. Like roʿei miqneh, the word ‘herdsman’ by itself is already a compound term, with the ‘herds’ representing miqneh and the ‘-men’ corresponding to roʿei. Arguably the simple translation ‘herdsman’ is not only smoother in English, but also a more literal approixmation of the structure of the underlying Hebrew.
7. the Canaanites and the Perizzites. Literally speaking the words are singular, as in the ASV, but the meaning is plural.
7. lived. Presumably the WEB is revised on the opinion that ‘dwelt’ is a little old-fashioned. Either is fine by me.
7. at that time. Perhaps a bit more explicit than ‘then’, a word which can easily be missed as it’s a common marker that just moves the story along in English. The Hebrew ʾaz is not quite such a common word.
8. I pray thee (ASV) is an old equivalent of Please (WEB). So also in verse 9.
8. me and you. So goes the Hebrew. I’m not sure why the WEB reverses the order to “you and me”.
8. my herdsmen and your herdsmen. Here too the WEB reverses the order.
8. relatives. Literally, ‘brother men’.
9. go left … go right. While a perfectly literal translation of the Hebrew here seems unlikely, I am attempting to make the English less wordy, to match the economy of words in the Hebrew.
11. plain of the Jordan. Here the WEB capitalizes ‘Plain’, though it leaves it uncapitalized in verses 10 and 12.
11. traveled. Perhaps the WEB’s attempt to update ‘journeyed’.
11. from one another. This is a more up to date equivalent of the ASV’s “the one from the other”.
12. lived. See the entry DWELL in the appendix “Recurring Words”.
12. among. Hebrew b-, which can be translated ‘among’ in a situation like this.
16. count … counted. Perhaps a bit more natural than number … numbered.
17. width. Perhaps ‘breadth’ might not be a familiar word to some readers.
18. settled. Literally, ‘sat’.
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