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)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 36:19:
Kupsabiny: “I caused them to scatter to other communities and other countries. I punished (them) according to the deeds and their customs.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I scattered them to other nations. I did to them what is-fitting to their way and deed.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I caused them to be scattered among many nations. I punished them like they deserved to be punished because of their very evil behavior.” (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.
I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries: As punishment, God sent the Israelites to live in many different countries. The Hebrew words for scattered and were dispersed are synonyms, and these two clauses are also synonymous (see the comments on 12.15 and 20.23). For those languages where this repetition is unnatural, one of these clauses may be omitted (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation). The agent for the passive verb were dispersed is God, which may be made explicit by rendering these two clause as “I scattered them among other nations; I spread them throughout all the other countries.”
In accordance with their conduct and their deeds I judged them: God punished the Israelites just as they deserved for their evil behavior. New Century Version says “I punished them for how they lived and what they did,” and New International Reader’s Version has “I judged them based on how they acted and the way they lived.” Conduct and deeds renders the same Hebrew words translated “ways” and “doings” in verse 17 (see the comments there). It is better to be consistent and use the same words each time.
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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