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Deuteronomy 1:7 – NASB vs. HCSB vs. ESV
Deuteronomy 1.7
Deuteronomy 1:7 NASB ‘Turn and set your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
Deuteronomy 1:7 HCSB Resume your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites and their neighbors in the Arabah, the hill country, the lowlands, the Negev and the sea coast–to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon as far as the Euphrates River.
Deuteronomy 1:7 ESV Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
The HCSB uses one word “resume” while the NASB and ESV both use two words which is more literal since the Hebrew does have two different verbs. While this is not really significant there might be an important application lost in the HCSB translation. The first verb literally is “turn.” From what would they turn? Presumably from facing Mt. Sinai to Canaan. The second word literally means “to pull up or out” as in tent pegs.
There are two advantages keeping the two verbs separate instead of combining them as does the HCSB.
First, our journey in life is often guided by these two verbs. We have to turn from one direction to another. Even when one direction is not sinful, just as it was not wrong to be at Mt. Sinai, goals require turning from a preparation stage to moving ahead. That requires more than just turning though. It involves pulling up our stakes and moving forward. Our focus must include action.
Second, it keeps the linguistic tie and spiritual between 1.7 and 2.2. In Deuteronomy 2.2, the exact same two verbs are used. This time, though, instead of turning towards Canaan, they turn away from it.
Deuteronomy 2:1 HCSB “Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the LORD had told me, and we traveled around the hill country of Seir for many days.
The only advantage to the translation of the HCSB is that it recognizes that Mt. Sinai was part of a journey that needed to be resumed. The Israelites never were destined to stay at the Mountain of God.
I always enjoy and learn from you translation comparisons. I mainly use the HCSB but sometimes compare with others to see how other translators dealt with it. I am not trained in the original languages so I have to rely on English, which is not always a good thing I guess. Usually the HCSB will put the literal translation in their footnotes when they move away from a literal translation, which would have been a good thing to do here I think. Anyway, thanks for writing about these things. I appreciate it.
Thanks John. Having used the NASB almost exclusively for 35 years, I started the comparisons mainly for myself. I have also learned the value of using several different translations.