complete verse (Ezekiel 27:34)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 27:34:

  • Kupsabiny: “Look now how you are destroyed in the ocean,
    you have drowned in the water.
    All your things are lost in the ocean
    and your people are destroyed there.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But now you are already broken-into-pieces and have-sunk-down into the deep-sea/ocean including your merchandise and all your crew.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

2nd person pronoun with low register (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 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. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

sea / lake

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.)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 27:34

This verse provides a contrast to the previous verse. Now the neighbors of Tyre have seen its destruction. Here the focus is again on the picture of the “ship” of Tyre.

Now you are wrecked by the seas means Tyre has been broken to pieces by the waves. New Century Version says “But now you are broken by the sea.” In the depths of the waters means Tyre has sunk and lies “at the bottom of the sea” (New Living Translation; similarly New Century Version). Although the meaning of this phrase is similar to that of “in the heart of the seas” in verses 26 and 27, the Hebrew word for depths stresses that the deepest place at the bottom of the sea is the location here. In many languages translators will use an active sentence for these two lines, such as “Now the waves have broken you to pieces and you lie at the bottom of the sea.”

Your merchandise and all your crew have sunk with you: Not only has the “ship” of Tyre sunk, but so have its goods and sailors. They all have gone down to the bottom of the sea. This verse is a picture of Tyre being totally destroyed. For merchandise see the introductory comments on verses 12-25a. All your crew refers to everyone who worked on the ship. Good News Translation provides a good model for these lines, saying “Your goods and all who worked for you Have vanished with you in the sea.”

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 .