prophesy

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The Hebrew and the Greek that are translated in English versions as “prophesy” are translated into Anuak as “sing a song” (source: Loren Bliese), into Balanta-Kentohe as “passing on message of God” (source: Rob Koops), and into Ixcatlán Mazatec with a term that does not only refer to the future, but is “speak on behalf of God” (source: Robert Bascom).

Other translations include: “God making someone to show something in advance” (Ojitlán Chinantec), “God causing someone to think and then say it” (Aguaruna), “speaking God’s thoughts” (Shipibo-Conibo), “God made someone say something” “Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac) (source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125), “proclaim God’s message” (Teutila Cuicatec), “speak for God” (Chichimeca-Jonaz), “preach the Word of God” (Lalana Chinantec), “speak God’s words” (Tepeuxila Cuicatec), “that which God’s Spirit will cause one to say one will say” (Mayo) (source for this and four above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), “say what God wants people to hear” (tell people God wod dat e gii oona fa say) (Gullah) (source: Robert Bascom), and “bring God’s mouth” (Bariai) (source: Bariai Back Translation).

In Luang it is translated with different shades of meaning:

  • For Acts 3:18, 3:21, 3:25: nurwowohora — “mouth says words that don’t come from one’s own mind.” (“This term refers to an individual’s speaking words that are not his because either a good or bad spirit is at work through him. The speaker is not in control of himself.”)
  • For Acts 19:6, Acts 21:9: nakotnohora — “talk about.” (“The focus of this term is on telling God’s message for the present as opposed to the future.”)
  • For Acts 21:11: rora — “foretell” (“The focus of this term is giving God’s message concerning the future. The person who speaks is aware of what he is doing and he is using his own mind, yet it is with God’s power that he foretells the future.”)

Source: Kathy Taber in Notes on Translation 1/1999, p. 9-16.

See also prophet and prophesy / prophetic frenzy.

complete verse (Ezekiel 20:46)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 20:46:

  • Kupsabiny: “‘Ezekiel, look towards the south. Prophesy bad things for that forest of south.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Man, you face toward the south and speak against this place that has trees.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘You human, turn toward the south. Preach about what will happen to that dry land, to the forest there.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

cardinal directions

The cardinal directions “east” and “west” are easy to translate into Maan here since the language uses “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down.” For “north” the translator had “facing toward the sun rising to the left,” and for “south” she had “facing toward the sun rising to the right.” So the listener had to think hard before knowing what direction was in view when translating “to the north and south, to the east and west.” So, in case all four directions are mentioned, it was shortened by saying simply “all directions.” Manya uses a similar nomenclature for the cardinal directions. (Source: Don Slager)

Likewise, Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) or Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).

Kankanaey is “from the coming-out and the going-away of the sun and the north and the south” (source: Kankanaey back-translation), Northern Emberá “from where the sun comes up, from where it falls, from the looking [left] hand, from the real [right] hand” (source: Charles Mortensen), Amele “from the direction of the sun going up, from the direction of the sun going down, from the north and from the south” (source: John Roberts), Ejamat “look up to see the side where the sun comes from, and the side where it sets, and look on your right side, and on your left” (source: David Frank in this blog post ).

In Lamba, only umutulesuŵa, “where the sun rises” and imbonsi, “where the sun sets” were available as cardinal directions that were not tied to the local area of language speakers (“north” is kumausi — “to the Aushi country” — and “south” kumalenje — “to the Lenje country”). So “north” and “south” were introduced as loanwords, nofu and saufu respectively. The whole phrase is kunofu nakusaufu nakumutulesuŵa nakumbonsi. (Source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff. )

“West” is translated in Tzeltal as “where the sun pours-out” and in Kele as “down-river” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel).

In Morelos Nahuatl, “north” is translated as “from above” and “south” as “from below.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

In Matumbi cardinal directions are defined as in relation to another place. “East” for instance typically is “toward the beach” since the coast is in the eastern direction in Matumbi-speaking areas. “North” and “south” can be defined as above or below another place. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture.

Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”

See also cardinal directions / left and right and people of the East.

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 20:46

For Son of man, see Ezek 20.3.

Set your face toward the south, preach against the south, and prophesy against the forest land in the Negeb: For set your face toward, see 6.2. Here this phrase may be rendered “look toward” (Good News Translation) or “turn in the direction of” (similarly Contemporary English Version, New Jerusalem Bible). The Hebrew verb rendered preach is a technical term for prophetic preaching. The word for prophesy means to give a message from God. Some translations combine the verbs preach and prophesy; for example, Contemporary English Version renders this verse simply as “Ezekiel, son of man, turn toward the south and warn the forests.”

There is disagreement about the focus of verses 46-48. Some translations understand the two Hebrew terms rendered the south as place names; for example, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh renders verse 46 as “O mortal, set your face toward Teman, and proclaim to Darom, and prophesy against the brushland of the Negeb” (compare New American Standard Bible and New English Bible, which include “Teman” but not “Darom”). Teman was a city in Edom, south of the Dead Sea, the Negeb is the dry area in southern Israel, but there is no record of a place called Darom. However, the places mentioned have very little significance for Ezekiel’s audience, so most scholars believe that Jerusalem is the actual focus of the prophecy. In fact, some claim that this prophecy is in the form a riddle, and the explanation of the riddle is given in the next prophecy in 21.1-6. Instead of being place names, the two Hebrew words for south and the word for Negeb are often used simply as directional indicators, meaning “south.” It is best to translate them all in this way, which Good News Translation does by saying “look toward the south. Speak against the south and prophesy against the forest of the south.” This rendering fits the context of Ezekiel’s audience, because a person traveling from Babylonia always approached Jerusalem from the north. In some languages it may be peculiar to talk about preaching to the south. If so, translators may say “the land of the south” or “the places in the south.”

The forest land in the Negeb is an unusual phrase because the Negeb (often spelled “Negev” [New Living Translation]) is a wilderness area that never had forests or thick bush. Most scholars believe the Negeb refers to Jerusalem and that the forest land refers to the houses of Jerusalem that will be burned in the coming judgment (compare Jer 21.14). Nevertheless, translators need to use a word like forest, bush or scrub to render forest land.

The three things that God tells Ezekiel to do are expressed as parallel clauses. Set your face toward, preach against, and prophesy against mean very much the same thing but demonstrate some progression from “turn your attention to” to “deliver God’s word of condemnation or judgment” to “give a message of God against.” Similarly, there is progression from the general (land to) the south to the more specific forest land in the Negeb (Desert). In some languages this parallelism will seem very unnatural, and since the clauses are not significantly different in meaning, translators may well collapse the ideas as Contemporary English Version has done. But if they can find a way to retain all three expressions and thereby retain the form, then we recommend they do this.

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 .