complete verse (Ezekiel 23:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 23:12:

  • Kupsabiny: “Oholibah desired the young men of Assyria including the rulers, leaders of soldiers, the disciplined soldiers, those who rode on horses and all the beautiful young men.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “She also chased the ones from-Asiria who were handsome and young men. They were captains and commanders with uniforms and horse-riders.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Oholibah also wanted to have sex with the Assyrian soldiers. Some of them were army officers and commanders. They all wore beautiful blue uniforms. They were all handsome young men. Some of them rode horses.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 23:12

She doted upon the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men: This verse repeats the ideas of verses 5-6 (see the comments there). The order of the words is different, but the only other difference in wording is clothed in full armor (literally “dressed to perfection”) instead of “clothed in purple.” The Hebrew expression for “dressed to perfection” has two possible meanings. It could mean that the soldiers were dressed “in beautiful uniforms” (New Century Version; similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh with “gorgeously clad”). The second possible meaning is that they had all their armor and fighting equipment on and were ready to fight; for example, New International Version and Revised English Bible say “in full dress.” In this context where the focus is on impressive pageantry and not on battle, this meaning is unlikely (compare 38.4, where the focus is on readiness for battle). Rather, the focus is on the magnificent uniforms and clothes that impressed Oholibah greatly. So the meaning of “dressed to perfection” is very similar to “clothed in purple” in verse 6; even the words for “perfection” and “purple” sound similar in Hebrew.

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 .