The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “ivory” in English was translated in the 1900 Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) translation (a newer version was published in 2000) as tûgânigdlo or “(narwhal) tusks.” “The word tûgâĸ (modern tuugaaq) ‘tusk’ does not refer specifically to the tusk of an elephant; rather, it is most closely associated with the noun tûgâlik (modern tuugaalik) ‘narwhal,’ which literally means ‘tusked one.’ The narwhal (Monodon monoceros) is a medium-sized whale with a single long tusk, and is native to the Arctic region, including Greenland. The use of the word tûgâĸ (modern tuugaaq) as an equivalent of ‘ivory’ has the unmistakable effect of situating the Greenlandic version in an Arctic context.” (Source: Lily Kahn & Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi in The Bible Translator 2019, p. 125ff.)
In Newari it is translated as “elephant tusks” (source: Newari Back Translation).
Ezekiel 27:15 reports traders who brought hovnim to Tyre. Coupled with ivory, the Hebrew word hovnim could have referred to either Asian or African products. In 1982 Zohary (Plants of the Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1982) stated that the identity of the hovnim in Ezekiel is unclear. He said that at best we can say that both Asian and African merchandise were shipped to Dedan, a Phoenician commercial center on the Arabian coast. Since then, however, Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, Baker Book House, 1992), who believes that trading with the Far East was less than many other scholars have alleged, has said that this tree is not the Asian Ebony Diospyros ebenum we know today but a leguminous tree Dalbergia melanoxylon, which grows all across Africa along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. Evidence for this, he says, is that the Old Egyptian cognate hbny found in hieroglyphs refers to Dalbergia melanoxylon.
If hovnim are from Africa, they could be Dalbergia melanoxylon, as Hepper asserts, or one of the many species of the genus Diospyros found throughout the continent, such as Diospyros mespiliformis. The latter is a huge, widespread forest tree up to 35 meters (115 feet) tall. Dalbergia melanoxylon is a smaller, spiny tree reaching a height of 6‑7 meters (20‑23 feet). It inhabits the dry savanna areas from Ethiopia across to Senegal and as far south as southern Africa, where it is called “zebrawood.” The leaves are compound, with the leaflets nearly opposite one another on the spine. It has white flowers that hang in loose clusters, and around October they give way to flat, papery seedpods about 6 centimeters (2.5 inches) long and 1 centimeter (1/2 inch) wide. The Asian ebony, if that is what hovnim refers to, is found in India and Sri Lanka, grows to 10 meters (33 feet) tall, and has evergreen leaves. The inner part of the trunk is black, which makes it an attractive wood for carvers, who inlay the wood with ivory.
There are hundreds of species of ebony in tropical areas of the world (eighty in the Americas, ninety-four in Africa, and two hundred in Asia). In Africa the tree that produces most of the true ebony is Diospyros mespiliformis, which is found all the way from Senegal to the Red Sea and Arabia and southward to Southwest Africa and the Transvaal. In Nigeria it is called kanran or kanyan (Adamawa Fulfuldenelɓe). Surprisingly, both the Yoruba and Igbo Bibles in Nigeria have used eboni, perhaps reflecting the urbanization and Anglicization of those societies (or at least of the translators!). The Hausa word kanya correctly refers to the ebony tree. Diospyrus ebenum, found in India and Sri Lanka, might possibly have been on the world market in Bible times. A local word for this tree could be used in translations. If Hepper is correct, then the Dalbergia melanoxylon, locally known in Africa as “ebony” and also used for carving, should be used. Other transliteration possibilities are ebene (French) and ebenuz (Spanish).
Dalbergia species are also found in Central and South America under the names of palisander, kingwood, or tulipwood. A species in India is called blackwood or rosewood. In all these places the wood is used for radio cabinets, musical instruments, buttons, knife handles, chess pieces, and decorative carvings for tourists.
Although the first definite reference to elephants in the Bible is in the Greek deuterocanonical book of 1 Maccabees, ivory (literally “tooth”) is mentioned first in the time of Solomon. By this date there were already ivory trade routes from the Sudan down the Nile and by sea from where Djibouti is now on the African Red Sea coast to where Eilat is now on the Gulf of Aqaba. Some of the ivory may have been made from the teeth of the hippopotamus but two references, 1 Kings 10:22 and 2 Chronicles 9:21, specifically refer to elephant ivory (literally “elephant’s tooth”). Ivory was probably known even much earlier than this since ornaments dating from around 2300 B.C. have been found in Palestine.
The Indian Elephant Elephas maximus was domesticated and trained for use in war very early well before the second millennium B.C. When Alexander the Great extended his empire into India in the fourth century B.C. he obtained war elephants to incorporate into his army. The idea of using elephants in war then spread to the Middle East. There was a smaller variety of this elephant found in Syria and Mesopotamia. By the third century B.C. domestic Indian elephants had been introduced into Egypt. Ptolemy II is reported to have had ninety-six elephants, four to a chariot, and later that same century when Ptolemy IV defeated the Seleucid king of Syria, Antiochus III, he is reported to have captured Syrians’ elephants. However, the Seleucid kings continued to use war elephants, and the next king, Epiphanes, attacked Egypt with elephants. He and his son then used them in their campaign against the Jews. According to 1Maccabees each elephant with thirty-two soldiers mounted on it, besides the Indian handler went into battle ahead of one thousand Syrian soldiers and five hundred horsemen. One of Maccabeus’ brothers was able to kill the largest elephant by getting under it and stabbing it, but he was himself killed when the elephant fell on him. At a later time probably because the Indian elephants were difficult to obtain the African Elephant Loxodonta africana was tamed for use in war. Coins show that the elephants used by the Roman Emperor Hadrian to cross the Alps were African probably brought from North Africa.
Elephas is the word most commonly used in the deuterocanonical books although elephantarchēs which means commander of an elephant squadron is used in 2 Maccabees 14:12 and 3 Maccabees 5:4 and 3 Maccabees 5:45 and thērion which means “monster” is used in 2 Maccabees 15:20f.
Elephants are the largest land animals on earth, the males of the Indian species being about 3 meters (10 feet) in height and weighing almost 4,000 kilograms (8,800 pounds). The African species is about half a meter (20 inches) higher and weighs up to 6,000 kilograms (13,200 pounds). The elephant’s trunk is basically an elongated nose, but it has muscles that make it a very useful feature. With it the elephant can not only smell but can pull down branches to eat, pick berries off bushes, draw up water to squirt into its mouth or over its body, and can use it as a weapon. On either side of the trunk the males grow long tusks that are often over 2 meters (6 feet) in length. These are used for digging up roots, gouging bark off trees, and lifting logs. These tusks are made of ivory. Elephants have large ears, which they use to fan themselves.
They are a dark gray color and have no fur. Their body looks almost hairless but in fact they are covered with bristly hairs. They feed on vegetation such as leaves roots shoots bark and fruit.
There are local words for elephant in most African, Middle Eastern, and Asian languages, and many international languages use a word derived from the Greek name elephas. In some areas even though there are no elephants, the fossilized bones of mammoths, the ancient relative of the elephant, are known, and this local name is used for modern elephants too. In most other areas the word for elephant is a word that is borrowed from the dominant language of the area.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 27:15:
Kupsabiny: “You also traded with the people of Dedan and you traded with those communities that are at the coast of the ocean. Those people brought you teeth of elephants and timber of ebony.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “‘ ‘Those from-Dedan also made-business with you, and your customer/client who were near the sea were many. What they paid you were tusks of the elephant and hard and dark woods.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Merchants came to you from Rhodes island. People from nations along the coast traded with you; they brought ivory/elephant tusks and valuable black ebony wood to trade for things that you had.” (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 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. )
The men of Rhodes traded with you: Men is literally “sons,” but here it is better rendered “people” (Good News Translation). Rhodes was an island between Crete and Asia Minor. It was a very important trading power in the Mediterranean, especially with Egypt and the rest of northern Africa. Instead of Rhodes, the Hebrew text actually reads “Dedan” (New Living Translation, King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Dedan was an oasis in the Arabian Desert. Many scholars think that a desert oasis does not fit with the Mediterranean islands at this point in the list, especially since Dedan reappears in verse 20. Therefore most translations choose to follow the Septuagint, which has “Rhodes.” The Hebrew word for Rhodes is “Rodan.” In Hebrew the difference between the letters for “d” and “r” is very small, and the two letters are often confused (compare the comments on 6.14). As a result, translators can have either “the island of Rhodes” or “the [desert] city of Dedan.”
Many coastlands were your own special markets: Many coastlands refers to the people who lived on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and on islands like Rhodes in the Mediterranean (see 26.15). Your own special markets is literally “the trading [or, traders] of your hand.” It is hard to know what this phrase means. It could mean the coastal people traded with Tyre; for example, New American Bible says “traded with you” (similarly Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Moffatt). Or it could mean that the coastal areas were the places where the trading occurred; for example, New American Standard Bible has “your market” (similarly Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation, New King James Version ). Or it could refer to the coastal people as those who bought goods from Tyre; for example, New International Version and New Jerusalem Bible say “your customers” (similarly Jerusalem Bible). The phrase “of your hand” seems to imply that the coastlands were somehow under the power or authority of Tyre. Perhaps they were not politically independent, being controlled by Tyre, or they simply acted as Tyre’s agents.
They brought you in payment ivory tusks and ebony: The Hebrew phrase rendered brought you in payment differs from the other expressions used for trading in this subunit. It has the sense of making a payment to a superior, so it may expressed as “rendered you tribute” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “paying their dues to you” (Revised English Bible), “delivered to you by contract” (Anchor Bible), or “fulfilled their obligations to you.” The use of this expression strengthens the suggestion that these island and coastal nations were either trading as Tyre’s agents, or they were doing so only under the authority of, and with the permission of, Tyre. It was probably from Egypt and the rest of northern Africa that the coastal areas got the ivory and ebony as payment to Tyre. Ivory tusks is often rendered “elephant’s teeth” (see Ezek 27.6). Ebony is a hard, black wood, valuable for carving and decoration. In translation it may be helpful to say “ebony wood for making carvings.”
A model for this verse is:
• The people of Rhodes traded with you. Many people who lived on the islands and coastal areas were doing business on behalf of Tyre. To fulfil their obligations to you, they paid you with ivory tusks and ebony wood.
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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