The Hebrew that is translated as “provoke (to anger)” in English is translated in Newari as “causing one’s anger to come out” (source: Newari Back Translation).
anger
The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated as “anger” or similar in English in this verse is translated with a variety of solutions (Bratcher / Nida says: “Since anger has so many manifestations and seems to affect so many aspects of personality, it is not strange that expressions used to describe this emotional response are so varied”).
- Chicahuaxtla Triqui: “be warm inside”
- Mende: “have a cut heart”
- Mískito: “have a split heart”
- Tzotzil: “have a hot heart”
- Mossi: “a swollen heart”
- Western Kanjobal: “fire of the viscera”
- San Blas Kuna: “pain in the heart”
- Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “not with good eye”
- Chichewa: “have a burning heart” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation) (see also anger burned in him)
- Citak: two different terms, one meaning “angry” and one meaning “offended,” both are actually descriptions of facial expressions. The former can be represented by an angry stretching of the eyes or by an angry frown. The latter is similarly expressed by an offended type of frown with one’s head lowered. (Source: Graham Ogden)
In Akan, a number of metaphors are used, most importantly abufuo, lit. “weedy chest” (the chest is seen as a container that contains the heart but can also metaphorically be filled with other fluids etc.), but also abufuhyeε lit. “hot/burning weedy chest” and anibereε, lit. “reddened eyes.” (Source: Gladys Nyarko Ansah in Kövecses / Benczes / Szelid 2024, p. 21ff.)
See also God’s anger and angry.
gentiles / nations
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 (Dinė)) (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), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari 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.
complete verse (Ezekiel 32:9)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 32:9:
- Kupsabiny: “Even many countries that you do not know will be troubled, when they are told the news that you have been destroyed.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “‘The people-groups of the nations whom you do not know will-be-troubled when I will- now -destroy you.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- English: “And when the people of many nations hear about your being destroyed,
many of them will be afraid/worried—
people living in countries that you have never known about.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 32:9
For the rest of this prophecy, the picture of the sea monster fades and the focus is on the king and country of Egypt.
I will trouble the hearts of many peoples means to disturb the minds of the people of many nations, to provoke them in some way. Often the Hebrew verb for trouble means “provoke to anger,” that is, make people angry, but here it has to do with provoking them in other ways, such as making them upset, distressed, anxious, and afraid. It does not simply refer to the emotional response of fear, since in the Old Testament the heart was the center of thinking (see 3.7). It is difficult to find a word that covers all of the feelings mentioned above, and translators may need to choose a word that focuses on just one; for example, this clause may be rendered “I will make many foreign nations afraid” or “I will make many foreign nations to be very worried.”
When I carry you captive among the nations: This rendering follows the Septuagint (so also New Revised Standard Version, New Century Version, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). The Hebrew reads “when I cause to come your breaking/shattering among the nations.” Some translations take this clause to refer in general terms to Egypt’s “destruction” (Good News Translation, New International Version, King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible) or “ruin” (Moffatt), while others are more explicit and refer to its “shattered remnants” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “broken army” (Revised English Bible). The Hebrew text is the preferred reading here (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). The Hebrew verb for carry (literally “cause to come”) may mean that God actually causes the destruction (so New International Version, King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible), but many translations understand it as God bringing news of the destruction (so Good News Translation, Christian Community Bible, Moffatt, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). Both interpretations are acceptable. Among the nations is where the destruction of Egypt will happen, or where the news of Egypt’s fall will be announced.
Into the countries which you have not known: The news will spread so widely all over the world that nations the Egyptians “have never heard of” (Contemporary English Version) will hear it.
A model for this verse is:
• “When I destroy you, I will make many nations anxious/afraid. Yes, nations that you have never even heard of will become anxious/afraid.
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.