shiny

In Gbaya, the notion of something shiny such as precious stones, gold, or glass is emphasized in the referenced verses with the ideophone kɛɗu-kɛɗu.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

complete verse (Ezekiel 10:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 10:12:

  • Kupsabiny: “There were countless eyes on their backs, arms, wings and legs/wheels.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The entire body of the cherubim, their back, hand, and wing, were full of eyes, and also the wheels.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Their bodies, including their backs and hands and wings, were covered with eyes. The wheels were also covered with eyes.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 10:12

And their rims, and their spokes, and the wheels were full of eyes round about: Because Revised Standard Version focuses only on the wheels here, it omits two Hebrew words from this clause. Instead of their rims, and their spokes, the Hebrew text has “their whole body and their backs and their hands and their wings,” which refers to the living creatures. We recommend following the Hebrew text here (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project), which Good News Translation does by saying “Their bodies, backs, hands, wings, and wheels were covered with eyes.” According to 1.18 (see the comments there), only the rims of the wheels were full of eyes round about, but here both the living creatures and the whole wheels “were covered with eyes” (Good News Translation). New Jerusalem Bible provides a good model for this clause, saying “and their entire bodies, their backs, their hands, their wings, as well as the wheels, had eyes all the way around.”

The wheels that the four of them had: This clause simply reminds us that each of the four creatures was beside a wheel. It may not be necessary to include this clause in the translation, but we recommend keeping it. New Century Version says “Each of the four living creatures had a wheel.”

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .