Translations
Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.
where the tribes go up—the tribes of Yah—a testimony for Yisra'el, to give thanks to the Name of YHWH.
where the tribes make their ascent—the tribes of Yah—by His appointed ordinance for Israel, to give thanks to the Name of Yahweh.
where the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as a testimony for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
Footnotes
Edut ranges across testimony, witness, and legal decree or statute. Here it points to the divine commandment requiring the three annual pilgrimage festivals (Exodus 23:14–17; Deuteronomy 16:16)—it is simultaneously something YHWH has testified to and a binding covenantal obligation on Israel. Shivtei Yah—"tribes of Yah"—uses the contracted divine name Yah in direct apposition to the tribal structure, making the pilgrimage inseparable from Israel's identity as Yahweh's own people. F.O.G. preserves Yah and renders edut as "testimony"; F.O.G.M. captures the covenantal-legal force as "appointed ordinance."

