The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “sailor(s)” in English is translated in Kouya as “worker(s) in the big canoe.”
Philip Saunders (p. 231) explains:
Acts chapter 27 was a challenge! It describes Paul’s sea voyage to Italy, and finally Rome. There is a storm at sea and a shipwreck on Malta, and the chapter includes much detailed nautical vocabulary. How do you translate this for a landlocked people group, most of whom have never seen the ocean? All they know are small rivers and dugout canoes.
We knew that we could later insert some illustrations during the final paging process which would help the Kouya readers to picture what was happening, but meanwhile we struggled to find or invent meaningful terms. The ‘ship’ was a ‘big canoe’ and the ‘passengers’ were ‘the people in the big canoe’; the ‘crew’ were the ‘workers in the big canoe’; the ‘pilot’ was the ‘driver of the big canoe’; the ‘big canoe stopping place’ was the ‘harbour’, and the ‘big canoe stopping metal’ was the ‘anchor’!”
In Rincón Zapotec, it is translated as “men having the care of the boat” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.) and in Newari as “the ones operating the ship” (source: Newari back-translation).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 27:27:
Kupsabiny: “Everything you own have been lost including your wealth, the people who brought you and those who work for you, buyers and your soldiers of war. All the people shall drown in the ocean on that day when everything is destroyed.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “All that is in you will-sink: your wealth, merchandise, crew, marines, carpenters, businessmen, and all your soldiers. All this will-sink into the deep-sea/ocean in the day that you will-break-into-pieces.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
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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 various Greek, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
In Malagasy culture, the sea is perceived as sacred because it was a path taken by the ancestors. That is why the Malagasy word for the “sea” is ranomasina, which literally means “the sacred water.” The word masina actually has two different meanings: “salted” and “sacred/holy.” Salt is used for the conservation of some foods, such as meat or fish, that are to be set aside for later use. In this sense, the Malagasy phrase for “Holy Spirit” has the literal meaning of “Salted Spirit.” (Source: Brigitte Rabarijaona in The Bible Translator 2022, p. 103ff.)
This verse lists everything that was lost in the shipwreck. Much of it repeats terms that were used in verses 8-12.
Your riches, your wares, your merchandise: See the introductory comments on verses 12-25a.
Your mariners and your pilots: The mariners and pilots were all the sailors on the ship (see the comments on verses 8-9). Good News Translation renders this line well with “All the sailors in your crew.”
Your caulkers were those who made the ship watertight so that it would not sink (see Ezek 27.8).
Your dealers in merchandise refers to those who bartered for goods for Tyre. This phrase may be rendered “your merchants” (New International Version, Revised English Bible), “your traders” (New Century Version), or “your commercial agents” (Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible).
And all your men of war who are in you refers to all the ship’s “soldiers” (Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version; see the comments on verse 10).
With all of your company that is in your midst refers to “everyone else on board” (New International Version, New Century Version; similarly New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation). Revised English Bible says “all who were in the ship with you.” This expression refers to the rest of the crew. It is unlikely to refer to the “passengers” (New Jerusalem Bible) on the ship.
All these things and people will sink into the heart of the seas, that is, go down deep into the water where the people will drown and the goods will be lost and spoiled (see the previous verse).
On the day of your ruin carries more weight than a simple statement of when the shipwreck will happen (compare Good News Translation “When your ship was wrecked,” and Revised English Bible “when it sank”). Instead this line draws attention to the fall and destruction of Tyre, its “ruin” (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation, King James Version / New King James Version), “downfall” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “overthrow” (New American Standard Bible). Translators may say “on the day when you are destroyed.”
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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