complete verse (Ezekiel 30:17)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 30:17:

  • Kupsabiny: “The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis shall die in battle and others shall be caught and taken away as prisoners.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The young men of Heliopolis and of Bubastis will-die in battle, and the remaining people in this towns will-be-taken-captive.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Many young men in Heliopolis and Bubastis cities in northern Egypt will be killed by their enemies swords,
    and the others from those cities will be captured and taken to Babylon.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 30:17

The young men of On and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword: The Hebrew word rendered young men (literally “chosen [men]”) is a technical term referring to young men who are old enough to fight. Contemporary English Version has “young soldiers.” The cities of On and Pibeseth, that is, “Heliopolis and Bubastis” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version), were located on the eastern branch of the Nile Delta, about 15 and 35 kilometers (9 and 22 miles) respectively northeast of where Cairo now stands. Both were important religious sites. Translators may need to say “the cities of Heliopolis and Bubastis.” Instead of On, the Hebrew reads “Awen.” The Hebrew consonants of these two words are the same; only the vowels are different, so there is no problem understanding the text to refer to the city. The Hebrew word ʾawen means “evil”; a scribe probably put in the vowels for this word because Egypt was seen as the source of evil. They will fall by the sword, that is, “die in the war” (Good News Translation; see the comments on Ezek 30.5).

And the women shall go into captivity: The Hebrew here reads literally “and they [feminine] will go into captivity.” It is not clear to whom the pronoun “they” refers. Revised Standard Version follows the Septuagint by saying the women (also New Living Translation, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, Christian Community Bible). If this is accurate, The young men in the previous clause probably refers to all the men fighting in the army. But it is more likely that the pronoun “they” refers to the two cities mentioned in the previous clause, since the word for city in Hebrew is grammatically feminine. So our recommended rendering is “and the cities themselves will go into captivity” (New International Version, Revised English Bible; similarly New Revised Standard Version, King James Version / New King James Version, New English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible), but for those languages that are unable to say that cities can go anywhere, translators may say “and the rest of the people will be taken prisoner” (Contemporary English Version; similarly Good News Translation). Go into captivity means that their enemies will take them away as “prisoners” (New International Reader’s Version) or “slaves” (New Living Translation); see the comments on 12.11.

A model for this verse is:

• The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis will die in war, and all the other people who live in those cities, their enemies will take them away as prisoners.

Another model is:

• The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis will die in war, and the enemies will capture all the other people who live in those cities and take them away as prisoners.

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 .