complete verse (Ezekiel 30:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 30:15:

  • Kupsabiny: “I shall pour out my anger on the city of Sin that Egypt relies on and destroy all the people of Thebes.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I will-pour-out my anger on Pelusium, the strong defense of Egipto, and I will-kill the many people of Tebes.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I will pour out my punishment on the fortress in Pelusium at the eastern end of Egypt,
    and I will get rid of very many people in Thebes.” (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 30:15

And I will pour my wrath upon Pelusium, the stronghold of Egypt: Pelusium (“Sin” in Hebrew; so King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) was a strategic city on the Mediterranean coast east of the Nile Delta. It was on the border between Egypt and the Philistines and was very important for the defense of Egypt if anyone from Asia wanted to attack Egypt. It is described as the stronghold of Egypt. Good News Translation says “Egypt’s great fortress,” and New Living Translation has “the strongest fortress of Egypt.” If readers in a language are not familiar with the concept of stronghold or “fortress,” translators may say “the city that guards Egypt.” Despite Pelusium’s military strength, God says I will pour my wrath upon Pelusium. For this imagery of God pouring out his wrath as if it were a hot liquid, see the comments on 7.8. Good News Translation says “I will let the city of Pelusium … feel my fury,” and Contemporary English Version has “The … city of Pelusium will feel my fierce anger.” For those languages in which it is unnatural for a city to feel God’s anger, it is appropriate to say that the people who live there will feel it. Possible models for the first two lines of this verse are “Pelusium is the city that guards Egypt. The people there will feel the force of my anger” and “I will make the people of Pelusium suffer from my anger. That is the city that guards Egypt.”

And cut off the multitude of Thebes: Here God gives a second judgment on Thebes (“No” in Hebrew; see the previous verse). Instead of Thebes, the Septuagint has “Memphis” (New American Bible), which is equivalent to the name “Noph” (Revised English Bible) in Hebrew. However, translators should follow the Hebrew text here by saying “Thebes” or “No” (Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). Cut off can mean simply “destroy” (New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “wipe out” (Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible), but in this context the full significance of cutting, that is, with a sword, may apply, so it may be rendered “slaughter” (similarly Contemporary English Version). For the Hebrew word translated multitude (“wealth” in Good News Translation), see the comments on verse 10. Translators should render it the same way as there. New Century Version has “great numbers of people” in both verses.

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 .