burn up

In Gbaya, the notion of something burning up completely is emphasized in Ezekiel 23:47 with ɗiloŋ-ɗiloŋ, an ideophone that expresses total destruction, as in a fire.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

complete verse (Ezekiel 23:47)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 23:47:

  • Kupsabiny: “Those many people will throw stones and kill them with swords, killing their daughters and sons and burn their houses.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “will-stone them, and will-kill them by sword. Their children will-be-killed too and their houses will-be-burned.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The mob will throw stones at themto kill them; they will cut them into pieces with their swords, they will kill their sons and daughters, and burn down their houses.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 23:47

And the host shall stone them and dispatch them with their swords: See 16.40. The host shall stone them means the attacking army will kill Oholah and Oholibah by throwing stones at them. According to the Law of Moses, this was the way to execute adulterers and murderers. Dispatch them with their swords means they will cut them to pieces with their large fighting knives. This sentence may refer to two different ways of killing them—some will be stoned to death and others will die by the sword—or it may mean that, after stoning them to death, the army will cut their dead bodies into pieces (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Either interpretation is acceptable, although the second one seems more likely here.

They shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses: The pronoun they refers to the attacking army, and the pronoun their to Oholah and Oholibah. Slay means “kill” (Good News Translation). For burn up their houses, see 16.41.

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 .