complete verse (Ezekiel 29:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 29:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “There is no person, thing or animal who shall step on or live there.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “No man or animal will-pass there, and no one will-live for a period/[lit. inside] of 40 years.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “For 40 years no one will walk through that area, and no one will live there.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 29:11

No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it: People will not travel through Egypt, and even wild animals won’t roam through the country. Foot of man and foot of beast are just a different way of saying “person” and “animal.” Good News Translation says “human being … animal,” and New Living Translation has “people … animals.”

It shall be uninhabited forty years means nobody will live in Egypt for one whole generation (Greenberg). The country will be totally deserted.

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 .