complete verse (Ezekiel 13:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 13:12:

  • Kupsabiny: “When the wall has fallen you will be asked about what did your white soil help?’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “And when it has- now -fallen the people will-ask them, ‘What is the help of your plastering of lime and mud?’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “When the wall falls down, the people will certainly say to those prophets, ‘The white paint certainly did not make the wall strong!’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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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 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).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 13:12

And when the wall falls: In Hebrew this clause is literally “And behold the wall falls” (similarly King James Version). The Hebrew word for “behold” is hinneh. Here this word heightens the dramatic impact of the narrative. Most translations ignore it, but New Jerusalem Bible captures its dramatic effect by rendering this clause as “and down will come the wall!” If possible, some way should be found to retain the dramatic force of this word. One possible way is “Then watch. When the wall falls down.”

Will it not be said to you…?: This is a rhetorical question expecting a positive answer, which many languages will have to restructure as a statement (so Good News Translation). A model that does this is “Then people will say to you.” The pronoun for you is plural in Hebrew, referring to the false prophets. God addresses them here, but Contemporary English Version renders this pronoun as “the workers” to avoid confusion due to the changing pronouns. It is better to say “you prophets.” Some languages will have to render the passive verb be said as an active one with an agent. The agent could be a general word, for example, “everyone” (Good News Translation), “people” (New International Version, New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible), or “someone.” However, it is also possible that God is the implied agent.

Where is the daubing with which you daubed it?: This question focuses on the uselessness of painting the whitewash on the wall. The wall itself was weak, and the thin covering of whitewash did not make it any stronger. There are two ways in which the question can be understood. It can be a subtle accusation that the false prophets have not done their job properly—the comfort and strength they gave to the people have turned out to be useless. This interpretation is most appropriate if God is the one who asks the question. Models that do this are “Then I will ask you prophets, ‘What happened to the whitewash [or, plaster] you put on the wall?’ ” and “Then I will say to you, ‘Look what happened to the whitewash you put on the wall!’ ” Alternatively, this question can be a sarcastic comment poking fun at the false prophets; for example, Contemporary English Version has “People will then ask the workers why the paint didn’t hold it up,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “won’t they make fun of you, saying, ‘Where’s that nice coat of paint now?’ ” This latter interpretation is more likely.

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 .