17Mortal, when the house of Israel lived on their own soil, they defiled it with their ways and their deeds; their conduct in my sight was like the uncleanness of a menstrual period.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 36:17:
Kupsabiny: “‘Ezekiel, when the people of Israel were still living in their land, they defiled that land with their habits/customs that were bad. Those habits of theirs were no longer unclean before me like a woman who is in her monthly period.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “‘Man, when the Israelinhon still lived in their land, they defiled it through their bad ways and deeds. In my sight, their way was dirty as a woman who is having her monthly-period.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “‘You human, when the Israeli people were living in their own land, they defiled it/caused it to become unacceptable to me by the things that they did. I considered that their behavior was disgusting, like the rags/cloths that women use during their monthly menstrual periods.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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.
When the house of Israel dwelt in their own land refers to the time before the Israelites went into exile in Babylonia. For the house of Israel, that is, the Israelites, see verse 10. Good News Translation provides a helpful model for this clause, saying “when the Israelites were living in their land.”
They defiled it by their ways and their doings: They defiled it may be rendered “they made the land [ritually] unclean” (Contemporary English Version), “they made it unfit for me,” or “they made it unfit for my worship.” Their ways and their doings refers to the wicked behavior and actions of the Israelites (see 14.22). This phrase may be translated “their way of life and their actions” (similarly Christian Community Bible). Contemporary English Version says “the way they behaved.”
Their conduct before me was like the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity: The Hebrew word for conduct is the same one rendered ways. Before me focuses attention on the effect of Israel’s behavior on God (compare Good News Translation, which begins this sentence with “I regarded their behavior”). Some languages may say “in my sight” (New International Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible), “in my eyes,” or “in my view.” To God, the Israelites’ wicked behavior was like the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity (compare Good News Translation “as being as ritually unclean as a woman is during her monthly period”). According to Lev 15.19-24, a woman is ritually unclean for worship for seven days during her period. Translators may use an appropriate euphemism to refer to a woman’s monthly menstrual period (see 18.6), but they should not go too far in trying to remove the possibility of causing offense that the meaning is lost (as is the case in New Living Translation [1996] with “as filthy as a bloody rag”). New Century Version provides a helpful model here, saying “like a woman’s uncleanness in her time of monthly bleeding.” The focus here is on ritual uncleanness, not a physical uncleanness that can be washed away with water. In some languages translators can convey this by saying “like the way a woman is not able [or, allowed] to worship me during her time of the month.”
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 .
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