complete verse (Ezekiel 36:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 36:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “But, oh, you hills of Israel, you shall produce branches of fruits so as to belong to my people of Israel because they are soon coming home.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But you, mountains of Israel, there will be trees which will-grow in you, and it will-bear-fruit for my people who are Israelinhon, for they are soon about to come-home.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But I say to you mountains in Israel that huge crops of fruit will grow on your trees for my Israeli people, because they will soon return home from Babylonia.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

2nd person pronoun with low register (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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 36:8

But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel …: In contrast to the judgment that will come upon Israel’s enemies, God will bless the mountains of Israel (see Ezek 36.1). Although God addresses the mountains, his promise here to “produce branches and bear fruit” (New International Reader’s Version) actually refers to the trees on the mountains. Shoot forth your branches means the trees will come to life again, and leaves and branches will grow on them (compare Good News Translation “the trees will again grow leaves”). However, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch retains the mountains as the subject by beginning this verse with “But you, mountains of Israel, will become green again.” Translators will need to find the most appropriate way of rendering this clause in their own languages. Yield your fruit means the trees on the mountains will “bear fruit” (Good News Translation, New International Reader’s Version). To my people Israel means the people of Israel will eat this fruit, for they will soon come home, that is, they will return from exile. Soon implies that they will come home within a year or two, the length of time it takes for trees to sprout leaves and produce ripe fruit. A model for this verse is:

• But for your part, mountains of Israel, your trees will once again grow leaves and bear fruit for my people the Israelites to eat. For they will come home soon.

Thus far, the prophecy in this subunit has been addressed to the mountains of Israel, and in Hebrew they remain the focus until verse 15. However, halfway through this verse, Good News Translation changes the focus from the mountains to the people, where it says “and bear fruit for you, my people Israel,” and for the rest of this subunit, the second person pronouns in Good News Translation refer to the people, not to the mountains. This is acceptable, but translators who are following Good News Translation closely need to be aware of this and be clear in their own translations who is being addressed at each point.

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 .