complete verse (Ezekiel 3:26)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 32:6:

  • Kupsabiny: “and pour out your blood to run down the hillside until it fills up the valley.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I will-stain/drench the land with your blood, as-well-as the mountains and I will-cause- it -to-flow in the passageway/channel of water.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I will cause them to fill the land with your blood,
    all the way to the mountains,
    and the ravines will be filled with your flesh.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 32:6

I will drench the land even to the mountains with your flowing blood: I will drench the land (literally “I will water the land” [New American Bible]) refers to God pouring a lot of liquid on the land, just like a person pours water on a garden. The liquid is your flowing blood, that is, the blood “oozing” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) from the dead body of the sea monster. Because the monster is so big, the blood flowing from its body will reach even to the mountains, that is, it will flow over the flat country until it reaches the base of the mountains. New American Standard Bible says “As far as the mountains.” Good News Translation seems to imply that the blood will be so deep that it will cover the mountains. This is a possible meaning of the Hebrew, but it is less likely. One way to express this whole clause is “I will soak the land as far as the mountains with the blood oozing from your body.”

The Hebrew word rendered flowing appears only here in the Bible and its meaning is uncertain. Most translations understand it in the way already discussed, but the accents in the Hebrew text suggest that it modifies land, not blood (so Greenberg). In that case the object of the verb quench is literally “the land of flowing,” which refers to the flat land on either side of the Nile River. This land is covered by water every year when the Nile floods. If flowing modifies land, then the meaning of this whole clause is that God will make the blood of the dead sea monster flow over the whole Nile Valley (that is, to the cliffs on either side of the valley) in the same way that the Nile flooded that country with water. This is probably the better interpretation, but translators should feel free to follow the interpretation of the majority of the translations they prefer. If they do follow this alternative interpretation, a possible model is “I will make your blood flow over the whole valley of the Nile River, right up to the cliffs [or, mountains].”

And the watercourses will be full of you: The blood that flows out of the sea monster’s body will fill the valleys. For watercourses see 31.12. This word may be rendered “ravines” (New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version) or “riverbeds” (New King James Version ).

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 .