Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 19:9:
Kupsabiny: “He/It was dragged along with hooks and he was put in a basket/net of metal wires while still alive. He was brought to the king of Babylon and put under guard so that he never again roared in the hills of Israel.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “They hooked him and dragged inside a cage, and brought to the king of Babilonia. They imprisoned him, so his roaring no-longer could-be-heard in the mountains of Israel.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “They tied him with chains and took him to Babylonia. And there he was locked in a prison, with the result that no one on the hills of Israel ever heard him roar again.’ Also, say to the Israeli people,” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
With hooks they put him in a cage: The treatment of the second king of Judah is very similar to that of the first one. Again they used hooks (see Ezek 19.4), but this time they put him in a cage. The word cage is misleading because the Hebrew word here refers to a wooden collar that was placed over the neck of a prisoner to prevent him from escaping. Sometimes these collars were joined together to hold more than one prisoner, so that the series of collars looked like a ladder. Such collars were used for captured lions as well as human prisoners. New Jerusalem Bible renders this line as “They shackled him with hooks.” Translators may also say “They used hooks to put a shackle [or, band] around his neck so he could not escape.”
And brought him to the king of Babylon: This time they took the captured king, not to Egypt, but to the Babylonian king. In many languages brought is better rendered “took” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) or “led.” Here Babylon refers to the country of “Babylonia” (Good News Translation; see the comments on 12.13).
They brought him into custody means “They put him in prison” (New International Version, New Century Version; similarly Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant). This is clearly the meaning of this line, although the Hebrew word for custody usually means “nets” (New King James Version , New American Standard Bible) or “fortress” (Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Presumably the prison was a strong fortress.
That his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel: They permanently removed the captured king from the land over which he had ruled. The Hebrew word for voice may be translated “roar” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). In this way it is possible to continue the parable of the lions right to the end of the first part of the song. The mountains of Israel refers to the whole country, so this phrase may be rendered “the country of Israel.” Translators may need to reorder these two lines for naturalness, saying “so that people in the mountains [or, hills] of Israel would not be able to hear him roaring any more” or “so that in the country of Israel people would no longer hear his roaring.”
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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