complete verse (Ezekiel 10:22)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 10:22:

  • Kupsabiny: “Their faces were like those I had seen there by the river Kebar. Each one went forward.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Their appearance was like also the appearance of the living creatures which I saw at the River Kebar. Each one walks straight.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Their faces were the same as the faces that I had seen at the Kebar River/Canal. Each of them flew straight ahead.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 10:21 - 10:22

Each had four faces, and each four wings, and underneath their wings the semblance of human hands: See 1.6 and 8. In verse 21 Ezekiel continues to emphasize that the two groups of creatures he saw were the same. Each of the creatures had four faces, four wings, and what looked like a human hand under each wing.

And as for the likeness of their faces, they were the very faces whose appearance I had seen by the river Chebar: In verse 22 Ezekiel emphasizes even more that the two groups of creatures were the same, but this emphasis is not reflected in many translations because the Hebrew is strained. New King James Version expresses the Hebrew of this sentence literally, saying “And the likeness of their faces was the same as the faces which I had seen by the River Chebar, their appearance and their persons.” This is a summary statement which says that the similarity was not restricted to the creatures’ faces but extended to the creatures as a whole.

They went every one straight forward: See 1.9. The similarity of the two groups of creatures also extended to the way they moved. Each creature moved straight ahead without turning.

A model that combines verses 21-22 is:

• These creatures were exactly like those I had seen by the Chebar Canal. They each had four faces and four wings, and under each wing was what looked like a human hand. Their faces looked the same. Everything about them was the same. They even moved in the same way—each one moving straight ahead without turning.

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 .