complete verse (Ezekiel 14:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 14:17:

  • Kupsabiny: “Or if I sent war to that land, its people and their animals would be killed,” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Or for-example, I will-send war to that nation to kill her residents and animals.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Or, if I bring enemy soldiers to attack that country, and they kill people and animals throughout that country with their swords,” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (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 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.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 14:17

Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Let a sword go through the land …: The same pattern appears in verses 17-18 as in the previous verses. Here God’s punishment of the sinful nation is a sword, which represents war (see 5.1-2). God will cause an enemy to attack the land. Contemporary English Version combines the first two clauses of this verse, saying “Or suppose I send an enemy to attack a sinful nation,” which other languages may find helpful.

And I cut off from it man and beast: See verse 13. The enemy sent by God will kill all the people and animals in the land.

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 .