complete verse (Ezekiel 24:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 24:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “I left that blood there so that it would stir up my anger wanting to repay/take revenge.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I saw this blood and I left it be-seen by everyone. As-if it shouts to me that I will-take-revenge.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But I am the one who caused the blood of those who were murdered to be smeared on the bare rock,
    where their blood could not be covered;
    I did that in order thatI could see it and
    then be angry and get revenge.’” (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 24:8

To rouse my wrath means God will become very angry. New Century Version says “To stir up my anger” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). The Hebrew expression for to take vengeance (“to take revenge” in Contemporary English Version) often means to get even or pay someone back (so New International Reader’s Version), but when God is the subject, it means to punish people in a way they deserve. The two expressions To rouse my wrath and to take vengeance are not two separate events. The second event is dependent on the first one, so they may be rendered “To make me angry enough to punish the people as they deserve.”

I have set on the bare rock the blood she has shed, that it may not be covered: In verse 7 the wicked people of Jerusalem poured the blood of their victims on the bare rock and did not cover it and everyone could see it. Now God says he put the blood in the same place, meaning that he made sure that it stayed there for everyone to see, and as a reminder for himself to punish the wicked people of Jerusalem.

A model for this verse is:

• I have put the blood of those murdered people on the bright rocky cliff, where it will not be hidden. I did this so that I will become more and more angry and I will punish the people of Jerusalem as they deserve.

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 .