fire and brimstone

The now commonly-used English idiom “fire and brimstone” (meaning fiery rhetoric or the threat of hell) was first coined in 1535 in the English translation by Miles Coverdale. (Source: Crystal 2010, p. 300)

For other idioms in English that were coined by Bible translation, see here.

complete verse (Ezekiel 38:22)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 38:22:

  • Kupsabiny: “I will send to you, your soldiers and the communities that came to your aid, sickness, war, great/much rain, hails and fire coming/pouring down.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I will-punish you and your soldiers, and your fellow nations. I will-punish you with disease and killing-each-other. I will-rain upon you strong rain, of ice seemed-like stones/rocks, and flaming sulfur.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I will punish you and your soldiers with plagues and murders. And I will send down from the sky, on you and your troops that have come from many nations, huge amounts of rain and hail and burning sulfur.” (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”.

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 38:22

With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him: God will punish Gog and his huge army by letting them die of diseases and by allowing others to kill them in a violent way. For pestilence and bloodshed, see 5.17. I will enter into judgment with him may be rendered “I will punish him” (Good News Translation; similarly New Living Translation, New Century Version).

And I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples that are with him, torrential rains and hailstones, fire and brimstone: God will also rain upon Gog and his army, that is, send rain to fall on them. This will not be ordinary rain. There will be torrential rains, that is, “heavy rain” (New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version), and hailstones (see the comments on 13.11). God will also send fire and brimstone on Gog and his army to destroy them. This was the way God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (see Gen 19.24) and threatened to destroy Assyria (see Isa 30.33) and Edom (see Isa 34.9). Brimstone (“burning sulfur” in Contemporary English Version) is a yellow substance that gives off a very bad smell when it burns, and people cannot breathe. It is most often found in volcanic areas. If brimstone or sulfur is unknown to readers, translators may say “burning powder” (Parole de Vie) or “fire that suffocates people.” It may not make sense in many languages for fire and brimstone to rain. If so, translators may end this verse with “and fire and burning powder will come down like rain.” For his hordes and the many peoples that are with him, see the comments on Ezek 38.6.

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 .