וָאַלְבִּישֵׁ֣ךְ רִקְמָ֔ה וָאֶנְעֲלֵ֖ךְ תָּ֑חַשׁ וָאֶחְבְּשֵׁ֣ךְ בַּשֵּׁ֔שׁ וַאֲכַסֵּ֖ךְ מֶֽשִׁי׃
10I clothed you with embroidered cloth and with sandals of fine leather; I bound you in fine linen and covered you with rich fabric.
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “sandal” in English is illustrated for use in Bible translations in East Africa by Pioneer Bible Translators like this:
Image owned by PBT and Jonathan McDaniel and licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
This animal is only mentioned in Scripture with regard to the leather made from its skin. It is clear that its hide made very good leather. The King James Version’s “badger” and Revised Standard Version’s “goat” are almost certainly mistranslations. New English Bible’s “porpoise” has more support since an Arabic word very similar to the Hebrew refers to the porpoise or dolphin. However catching sufficient porpoises to make a covering for the tabernacle would have been problematic for the Israelites since these animals live entirely in the sea while the Israelites were not a seagoing nation.
However, some local Bedouin tribes that live near the sea have for centuries made sandals and other articles from the skins of an animal called dugong and many modern scholars interpret tachash as referring to this animal. New International Version and New English Bible (margin) have “sea cow”. The dugong, which swims slowly and feeds on underwater weeds near the shore, is fairly easy to catch in nets.
The Dugong (Dugong dugong) is a large animal about 3 meters (10 feet) long, which lives in the sea, usually in small herds of twelve to fifteen animals. They swim slowly and feed in fairly shallow water on underwater weeds near mouths of rivers. They sometimes even move a short distance up the river. They need to come to the surface every few minutes to breathe, and they sometimes come out of the water to lie on rocks or sandbanks.
Although they have flippers rather than legs and a tail that looks like that of a large fish dugongs are mammals. They have soft fur. They do not lay eggs but give birth to babies and feed them on milk from their breasts. They are found in fairly large numbers even today in the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea and are also found along the tropical coasts of East Africa, South Asia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Solomon Islands. They have also been reported in Taiwan.
Dugongs are distantly related to seals. They are pale gray in color and the male has small tusks in its upper jaw. They are harmless and unsuspicious animals and are easy to catch. Dugong skins are fairly thick soft and long-wearing and make high quality leather. The fur is usually left on the leather.
Three very similar animals are the Senegal Manatee Trichechus senegalensis, which is found in West Africa, the Caribbean Manatee Trichechus manatus, which is found on the coasts and in the lagoons of the Caribbean islands and Florida, and the South American Manatee Trichechus inunguis, which is found in the Amazon and Orinoco rivers.
Where dugongs and manatees are known, the best choice will be the word for one of the three mentioned in the previous paragraph. In areas where they are not known, the word for the seal can be used. Where seals are also not known, a more general expression such as “good soft leather” or “furs” is better than trying to name the animal. It is the skin rather than the animal that is in focus in all cases.
Source: All Creatures Great and Small: Living things in the Bible (UBS Helps for Translators)
See also fine leather.
After washing and putting oil on the girl, God dressed her in beautiful clothes and jewelry. Verses 10-12 describe in detail what he gave to her. Some suggest that these items were the girl’s bridal outfit, but they more likely refer to her new life of luxury. Unfortunately it is not clear nowadays exactly what some of these items were.
I clothed you also with embroidered cloth: The Hebrew word for embroidered cloth refers to cloth into which someone has sewn decorative patterns or figures by hand with a needle. The main focus of this word is that the material is brightly-colored. New Century Version says “beautiful clothes made with needlework,” and Contemporary English Version has simply “finest clothes.”
And shod you with leather means God put shoes or sandals on the girl’s feet Leather is the processed skin of an animal, but it is uncertain whether it is from a dugong, sheep, or goat. The important point is that the leather was used to make beautiful shoes or sandals for the girl. Good News Translation has “shoes of the best leather,” and Contemporary English Version says “sandals made from the best leather.”
I swathed you in fine linen: The Hebrew verb rendered swathed means “wrap around.” Although many translations take this verb to refer to putting on clothes in general (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Moffatt) or putting on a belt (so Revised English Bible, New American Bible, Bible en français courant), it usually refers to putting on a head covering that is wrapped around the head like a turban or “headband” (Good News Translation, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible; similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Fine linen is an expensive cloth woven from flax (see the comments on 9.2). Where it is not known, translators may say “fine cloth.” This whole clause may be rendered “I wrapped a headband of fine cloth [or, linen cloth] around your head.”
And covered you with silk: Covered may be translated “dressed” (Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “clothed” (Moffatt). The Hebrew word for silk is used only here and in verse 13 in the Old Testament, so its exact meaning is unclear. Traditionally it has been translated silk, but there is no evidence that silk was known in Europe and the Middle East until almost 200 years after Ezekiel’s time. The word may have been borrowed from an Egyptian term for a piece of fine clothing. It is best for translators to use a general expression for silk, such as “rich fabric” (New Revised Standard Version), “costly garments” (New International Version), or “beautifully woven cloak” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
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 .
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”.
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