complete verse (Ezekiel 21:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 21:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “This sword will make my people lose heart and stumble. I shall frighten them in their city by this sword that flashes like lightning that is prepared to kill.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They will-tremble in fear and many will-be-destroyed among them. I already placed the sword at the gates of their city to kill them. It is-flashing like lightning and ready to kill.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “In order that people will be very much afraid
    and many people will be killed,
    I have placedsoldiers holding my swords at every city gate,
    ready to slaughter people.
    Those swords will flash like lightning,
    as the soldiers grasp them to slaughter people.” (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 21:15

That their hearts may melt, and many fall: The sword’s activity has two aims. One aim is that their hearts may melt, that is, the people will be afraid (see Ezek 21.7). Translators may say “This [or, This sword] will make the people weak with fear.” The other aim is that many fall, that is, “many people will die” (New Century Version). The second clause can also mean “many people will be afraid” if hearts is implied from the first clause (so Greenberg). If so, the second clause is literally “and those whose hearts falter [that is, those who lose courage] will increase in number.” Either interpretation is acceptable.

At all their gates. I have given the glittering sword: Revised Standard Version is wrong to attach at all their gates to the previous clause. It is better to attach it to the following clause; for example, New International Version has “I have stationed the sword for slaughter at all their gates,” and New Century Version says “I have placed the killing sword at all their city gates.” Good News Translation renders their gates as “their city” because the person who controls the gates of the city controls the whole city. It is not certain what God placed at the city gates, because the Hebrew word for glittering is used only here. Most translations take it to refer to the sword’s role in killing people (see New International Version and New Century Version above). In the context this interpretation is probably the best option, so a possible model for the whole clause is “I have put the sword to kill them at the city gates.” But it also possible that Hebrew word for glittering can mean “unsheathing” (Hebrew Old Testament Text Project) of the sword. A model of the clause that follows this sense is “I have taken the sword from its sheath [or, cover] at the city gates.” New Revised Standard Version is similar with “At all their gates I have set the point of the sword” (so also King James Version / New King James Version), and so are New English Bible and Revised English Bible with “I have set the threat of the sword at all their gates.” Glittering is a guess to try to make the Hebrew word here fit with the following clauses. We do not recommend this rendering.

Ah! it is made like lightning, it is polished for slaughter: God describes the sword again. The Hebrew interjection rendered Ah seems to be an expression of distress or sorrow here (compare 6.11, where it is translated “Alas”). For it is made like lightning, see verse 10. Languages that do not have passive verbs may say “It flashes like lightning” (New Living Translation). It is polished for slaughter is a conjecture, based on verse 10. As the Revised Standard Version footnote shows, the Hebrew seems to say “it is wrapped up for slaughter” (similarly King James Version, New American Standard Bible), which may mean the sword is being kept in its sheath, in reserve for killing (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). But the form of the Hebrew word for “wrapped up” may also mean “unwrapped,” that is, unsheathed, so Revised English Bible renders this clause as “[the sword] drawn to kill.” In view of the uncertainty about this word, it is best to be quite general here; for example, Good News Translation says “is ready to kill” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

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 .