Hades / Sheol

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is often translated in English as “Hades” or “Sheol” is translated in the German Luther Bible 2017 (and pre-1912) as Totenreich or “realm (or: kingdom) of the dead” in these verses. (Source: Jost Zetzsche)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Sheol .

gentiles / nations

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).

Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).

In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also nations.

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 31:17

They also shall go down to Sheol with it … yea, those who dwelt under its shadow among the nations shall perish: They also renders an emphatic Hebrew expression that focuses attention on those who went to the place of the dead with the cedar tree, but who were they? The answer to this question depends on the interpretation of a difficult Hebrew word in the second half of this verse. In our view the best interpretation of the Hebrew text for this verse is given by New International Version, which says “Those who lived in its shade, its allies among the nations, had also gone down to the grave with it, joining those killed by the sword.” According to this interpretation, those who went to the underworld with the cedar tree were those who previously had lived under its protection (see Ezek 31.6), even though they had already left it (see verse 12). New International Version calls them “its allies,” and International Children’s Bible says “its friends.” The Hebrew word for “its allies” causes much of the difficulty here. The word is zeroʿo, which is literally “his arm.” Often the Hebrew word for “arm” refers to military power and strength (compare 30.21-25), so here it probably points to the military support of those who lived under the tree’s protection, that is, its allies. Some translations take this word from a different Hebrew root that means “to scatter”; for example, Good News Translation renders the last half of this verse as “And all who live under its shadow will be scattered among the nations” (similarly New English Bible, New American Bible). Other translations change the vowels of the Hebrew word and read zarʿo, which means “his seed” (Septuagint), that is, the tree’s children; for example, New Jerusalem Bible renders this verse as “And its offspring among the nations, once living its shade, went down to Sheol with it, to those who have been slaughtered by the sword.” Still others change the consonants of the Hebrew word and read gawʿu, which means “die/perish” (so Revised Standard Version, Moffatt). Unfortunately, this change does not answer the question of who went to the place of the dead with the cedar tree, and we are left to guess that it may be the other trees. We recommend the interpretation in New International Version (so also Hebrew Old Testament Text Project).

Those who are slain by the sword refers to those who were killed in war (see 26.6). Soldiers who were killed in war were stripped naked by the victorious army, their corpses were abused, and they might be left unburied, or buried in mass, unmarked graves. Treatment like this brought great shame on the dead and, as the next verse shows, these dead people inhabited the lowest and worst part of the underworld.

For the tenses of the Hebrew verbs in this verse, see the comments on verse 15. Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, and Contemporary English Version continue to use future tense, but most translations have past tense, which we prefer. A model for this verse is:

• The cedar tree’s allies who had lived under its shade among the nations also went down with it to the place of the dead. They joined those who were killed in war.

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 .