12to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to assail the waste places that are now inhabited and the people who were gathered from the nations, who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the center of the earth.”
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 38:12:
Kupsabiny: “You (plur.) will plunder the people who live in those cities that are demolished. These people are the ones who were brought back from where they had been scattered to and became wealthy having animals and other things and live in a beautiful land.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-plunder/[lit. take-by-force] the properties of those towns who were-desolate/lonely before, which now are full already with people who have-returned from the nations. They have many animals and properties, and they consider their nation as the most-important nation on the earth.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “So it will be easy for us to attack the people who are living again in those towns that were previously destroyed. They are people who have been gathered from many countries where they had lived for many years, people who now live safely in their land with all their livestock and other possessions. They are living in the country that is in the middle of the most important countries (OR, that they think is the most important country) in the world. Our soldiers will take away all their valuable possessions.’” (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 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. )
It is uncertain where the quote of Gog’s thoughts ends. Some translations close it at the end of verse 11 (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, New King James Version , Revised English Bible, Moffatt). Others follow the Septuagint and continue the quote to end of verse 12 (so New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, New American Standard Bible, New American Bible, Christian Community Bible), but this involves changing the Hebrew text from “your hand” to “my hand” (see the comments below). In others it is impossible to tell, either because they do not include quotation marks at all (so King James Version), or because they use indirect speech throughout verses 11-12 (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). In our view the best place to close the quote of Gog’s thoughts is after the first sentence of this verse (so New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), but at the end of verse 11 is also acceptable.
To seize spoil and carry off plunder refers to the way victorious soldiers take everything of value from the people who have lost the war (see the comments on 29.19). Some translations use terms such as “rob” (Contemporary English Version, New International Reader’s Version) and “steal” (New International Reader’s Version) for the actions here, but these terms can be misleading since they refer to the illegal actions of thieves in a community setting, instead of the plundering and looting that used to be seen as a normal and necessary part of war. It was necessary because it was one way in which soldiers were “paid” by the army commander for their service—they were allowed to keep whatever things of value they could grab. Translators may need to make this clear by saying “I will attack them and take away all their valuable things as my reward.”
To assail the waste places which are now inhabited is literally “to turn your hand against the waste places…” (New American Standard Bible). “Turn your hand against” is another way of saying “attack.” As in verse 8, the Hebrew word for waste places probably refers to the empty, deserted towns where no one lived, but many translations take it to refer the state of the towns themselves by saying “ruins” (New International Version, New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible), “cities that were once in ruins” (Good News Translation; similarly Revised English Bible), or “towns that were once a pile of rubble” (Contemporary English Version). Of course, the two ideas are closely related, and although either interpretation is possible, the first one is preferable. These places are now inhabited, that is, people are living there again.
And the people who were gathered from the nations: See Ezek 38.8. Gog and his army will attack the Israelites who returned from exile and were living in the rebuilt towns.
Who have gotten cattle and goods describes further the Israelites. The Hebrew word for cattle refers to all sorts of domestic animals, not just cows. The Hebrew word for goods refers to anything that someone can buy and sell (compare New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “possessions”). For this whole clause New Century Version has “who have become rich with farm animals and property.”
Who dwell at the center of the earth also describes the Israelites. They thought that the land of Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, was the center of the world (compare 5.5). Following the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, New American Bible says “the navel of the earth” (similarly Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) instead of the center of the earth. Some translations have tried to capture the significance of the Hebrew expression here by saying “the crossroads of the world” (Good News Translation) or “the most important place in the world” (Contemporary English Version). Such renderings go a bit too far, because the Hebrew word for center, which is used only here and in Jdg 9.37, seems to have the sense of an elevated area, the highest part of something. Its meaning may then be similar to the “mountainous area” of Israel. So an appropriate rendering for this clause is “They live in the high country of the land of Israel.” This takes the earth (literally “the land”) as the land of Israel, not the whole world. However, in line with so many translations in the past, the rendering “the center of the world” (New Century Version), both geographically and in significance, is also acceptable.
A model for the last sentence of this verse is:
• You will attack those cities that used to be uninhabited [or, used to be in ruins]. You will attack those people who came back together from the different countries where they were. Now they are rich with farm animals and property. They live in the high country of the land of Israel [or, They live right in the center of the world].
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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