The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 22:15:
Kupsabiny: “I will disperse you to all other countries and put an end to that evil of yours.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-scatter you to different nations, and I will-stop what you do which cause- you -to-become-dirty.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I will cause you to be scattered among many nations , and I will cause you to stop your sinful behavior.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.
In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
This verse describes the coming punishment on the people of Jerusalem.
I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries: Although the Hebrew pronoun for you is feminine singular and grammatically applies to the city, it is acceptable to translate it in terms of the people in Jerusalem; for example, Good News Translation says “your people.” God will send them to live in many different countries. As noted in 12.15 and 20.23 (see the comments there), the Hebrew verbs rendered scatter and disperse are synonyms, and some translations do not keep both (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, Bible en français courant). Depending on the requirements of the language, this is acceptable.
And I will consume your filthiness out of you means God will remove or destroy anything that is sinful or ritually unclean. Here the pronouns your and you are ambiguous. In Hebrew they are both singular. Some scholars say these pronouns refer to the people of Jerusalem, so this clause means God will purify them through their exile; for example, Contemporary English Version says “and put a stop to your sinful ways.” Others claim these pronouns refer to Jerusalem, so this clause means God will purify the city itself by removing its evil citizens; for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “and I put an end to your [singular] crimes.” Because the second singular pronouns are used ambiguously throughout the whole prophecy (see the comments on Ezek 22.3), either interpretation is acceptable, although the second interpretation fits the context slightly better. This clause may be rendered “I will put an end to the evil things you people do that make you unclean,” but a better model is “Jerusalem, I will get rid of the evil things that make you unclean.”
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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