Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 11:9:
Kupsabiny: “I shall chase you from this city and hand you over to foreigners as I have decided for you to get punishment/pain.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-drive- you -out-from this city and cause-to-be-taken-captive by those from-other place and I will-cause- you -to-be-punished by them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I will expel you from this city and enable foreigners to capture you and punish you.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
And I will bring you forth out of the midst of it: Here God repeats the threat of verse 7 (see the comments there). This clause may be rendered “I will force you out of the city” (New Century Version) or “I will make you go out of Jerusalem.”
And give you into the hands of foreigners: Here God adds that he will hand over the leaders of Jerusalem to foreigners, that is, the Babylonians. Translators may say “and turn you over to people from another country.”
And execute judgments upon you: See 5.8. Here this clause can mean that God will allow the foreign enemies to punish the leaders (so Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation). If so, it may be rendered “and I will let/allow them to punish you.” But this clause can also mean that God will bring into effect the sentence that he had already pronounced upon the leaders. Models that express this sense are “and bring you to justice” (New Jerusalem Bible) and “carry out the punishments I decided you should receive.”
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 .
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