complete verse (Ezekiel 10:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 10:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “I heard those wheels being called, ‘Wheels that are swirling around.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “And I heard that these wheels were-being-called ‘wheels that roll.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I heard someone call them ‘the whirling wheels’.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 10:13

As for the wheels: The subject now changes back to the wheels.

They were called in my hearing the whirling wheels: Ezekiel heard a voice calling out and giving a name to the wheels. They were called is a passive construction that does not say who or what did the naming. Many languages will need to specify an agent by rendering this clause as “I heard a voice call them…” or “I heard someone name them….” For the whirling wheels, see the comments on Ezek 10.2. Here it would be acceptable to say “the turning wheels” or “the spinning wheels.”

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 .