The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated in English as “wild animal” or similar is translated in Newari as “animal that lives in the jungle.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
birds of the air
The Greek and Hebrew phrases that are often translated as “birds of the air” in English “refer to the undomesticated song birds or wild birds, to be distinguished in a number of languages from domesticated fowl. In Tzeltal these former are ‘field birds’.” (source: Bratcher / Nida)
Q’anjob’al also uses an established term for non-domesticated birds. Newberry and Kittie Cox (in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 91ff. ) explain: “Qʼanjobʼal has two distinct terms, one to identify domesticated birds and the other non-domesticated birds. The additional descriptive phrase ‘of the air’ seemed entirely misleading, for Qʼanjobʼal speakers had never heard of such creatures. Actually, of course, all that was necessary was the term for non-domesticated birds, for that is precisely the meaning of the Biblical expression.”
See also birds of the air / fish of the sea and birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.
Translation commentary on Ezekiel 31:12 - 31:13
The judgment of the cedar tree continues in these verses.
Foreigners, the most terrible of the nations, will cut it down and leave it: Foreigners refers to people from another country. New International Reader’s Version says “The Babylonians,” but it is best not to identify them explicitly. New Living Translation is better with “A foreign army.” They are described as the most terrible of the nations (see 28.7), that is, “the most ruthless” (New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “the cruelest” (Contemporary English Version) of nations. Cut it down and leave it means this cruel foreign army chopped the tree down and left it lying on the ground.
On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches will fall, and its boughs will lie broken in all the watercourses of the land: The tree’s branches were shattered and scattered across the land. For mountains and valleys, see 6.3; for branches and boughs, see Ezek 31.5 even though the Hebrew word for branches is different there. Watercourses renders the same Hebrew word translated “ravines” in 6.3 (see the comments there). “Ravines” (New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, Christian Community Bible, Moffatt) are deep valleys that rivers carve out in the mountains. Some languages may not have different terms to refer to valleys and watercourses. If so, it is acceptable to use just one term, as Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have done.
While the cedar tree still stood, it provided shelter for birds, animals, and the people of great countries (see Ezek 31.6). Now that protection was gone, and all those that the tree had sheltered were much worse off.
And all the peoples of the earth will go from its shadow and leave it means all the people protected by the tree have abandoned it. For its shadow, see Ezek 31.6.
Here is one model for verse 12:
• The cruelest foreign nation cut it down and left it. Its branches fell and broke, and they are lying on the mountains and in all the stream beds and valleys across the land. All the nations that were staying in its shade went away.
Upon its ruin will dwell all the birds of the air: Its ruin refers to “the stump of the fallen tree” (Contemporary English Version) or “its fallen trunk” (New Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation), on which the birds were exposed to danger when they perched there. Revised Standard Version says the birds dwell on the tree stump or fallen trunk. But “perch” (Good News Translation) or “settle” (New Revised Standard Version) are better verbs in English to use here since they do not give the idea of nesting and living there, just resting there temporarily. For the birds of the air, see 29.5.
And upon its branches will be all the beasts of the field: It is not clear exactly what happened to the animals. Upon its branches will be is literally “to [or, on] its branches were.” Translations have interpreted this phrase in many different ways, for example, “moved among its branches” (New International Reader’s Version), “lie among its branches” (New Living Translation), “live among the tree’s fallen branches” (New Century Version; similarly New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “lay upon its branches” (Moffatt), “sought shelter among its branches” (Revised English Bible), “trample its branches” (Contemporary English Version; similarly Good News Translation), and “come to its branches” (New King James Version ). Because the Hebrew is so general here, any of these renderings is acceptable, although the contrast between the standing and fallen tree suggests that the animals were now looking among the broken branches for a place where it was safe for them to live. For the beasts of the field, see 29.5. One way to translate this whole clause is “Wild animals tried to find some shelter among its branches [that were on the ground].”
Like verse 11, the tenses of the verbs in these verses are rendered in different ways by the various versions. In Hebrew all the verbs except the third one in verse 12 (fall) and the second one in verse 13 (be) appear to be past. Most translations use the past in both these verses (so New International Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, Moffatt), or past in verse 12 and present in verse 13 (so New Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and Contemporary English Version use future throughout, implying that the events described in these verses had not yet happened. This is an acceptable approach, if it is understood that the prophecy applies to Egypt. But in the context of the picture of the cedar tree, the prophecy applies to Assyria (only in verse 18 is it applied to Egypt), and so the events are past. So we recommend that translators use the past tense, unless readers will not understand the overall point of the prophecy.
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 .