village

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “village” or “town” in English is translated in Noongar as karlamaya or “fire (used for “home“) + houses” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Elhomwe it is typically translated as “place.” “Here in Malawi, villages very small, so changed to ‘places,’ since not sure whether biblical reference just to small villages or also to bigger towns. (Source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Ezekiel 38:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 38:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “You will decide to raid people who are weak/helpless who do not have a wall that protects (them) or gates that are closed.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You will-say: I will-attack Israel whose towns have no stone-wall, gate/entrance, and bar, and its residents live peacefully and fear no disaster.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You will say to yourself, ‘My army will invade a country where the villages do not have walls around them. We will attack people who are peaceful and do not suspect/think that they will be attacked. Their towns and villages do not have walls with gates and bars.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 38:11

Verses 11-12 describe what Gog will be thinking and planning. He sees the chance to attack a weak and defenseless nation, and get rich by taking away lots of valuable goods from the people.

And say introduces what Gog thinks and plans. This quote frame may be rendered “You will say to yourself.”

I will go up against the land of unwalled villages: Go up renders the same Hebrew verb translated “advance” in verse 9. Unwalled villages are small towns that do not have walls around them to protect them from enemies, as most of the larger towns of that time had (see the comments on 26.4). This clause may be rendered “I will attack that land with villages that do not have walls to protect them.”

I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely: Fall upon (literally “come”) is another way of saying “attack” (New International Version, New Century Version). The quiet people who dwell securely describes the people who live in the villages. They are “peaceful people” (New International Reader’s Version) who are living without any threat of danger. The Hebrew word for quiet refers to their peaceful existence, not to how loudly they talk. For people who dwell securely, see Ezek 38.8.

All of them dwelling without walls means there are no walls around the villages to protect the people from attack.

And having no bars or gates: Since the villages have no walls, there are no strong gates to keep enemies out, and since there are no gates, there are no strong bars to lock the gates. Since the function of the bars was to lock the gates, it is appropriate in certain cultural situations to translate this word as “locks” (Contemporary English Version). The usual situation at the time was for a town to have a stone or earthen wall around it, a gate that was opened during the day to allow people to go in and out and closed at night to protect them from robbers, and a heavy piece of wood that was placed across the closed gate to prevent anyone opening it from the outside. It was a sign of peace and lack of danger from attack by enemies to be able to live in a town that did not have a wall or fence to protect it. Translators must be careful not to imply that the walls, gates and bars refer to individual houses, instead of the villages themselves.

A model for this verse is:

• You will say to yourself, ‘I am going to attack this land and the people who live peacefully and don’t feel that they are in danger. Their villages have no walls to protect them and no gates with bars [or, locks] to keep an enemy out.’

It is also possible to use indirect discourse here (so Good News Translation), as in “You will decide to attack this land and the people … enemy out.”

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 .