complete verse (Ezekiel 38:9)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 38:9:

  • Kupsabiny: “You and your soldiers shall raid (it/them) and other communities shall aid you to push (them) like a storm until you cover them like a fog!” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You and your soldiers, and your fellow nations, will-attack Israel as-if-like a storm, and you will-engulf it like the engulfing of the cloud.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “You and all those armies from many nations will go up to Israel, advancing like a big storm. Your army will be like a huge cloud that covers the land.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

2nd person pronoun with low register (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 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 38:9

You will advance is literally “And you will go up” (International Children’s Bible; similarly New International Version, King James Version / New King James Version), which means Gog and his army will “attack” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) Israel.

Coming on like a storm: God compares the advance of Gog’s army with the approach of a violent storm. In many languages coming is better rendered “going” or “advancing.” The Hebrew word for storm basically refers to devastation, ruin and destruction, but in this context, where it is parallel with a cloud in the next clause, it is best to understand it as a destructive wind or rainstorm. “Cyclone” or “typhoon” would be a good translation.

You will be like a cloud covering the land: This cloud is probably the large cumulus thundercloud that casts a dark shadow over land during a heavy rainstorm. It is the shadow from the cloud that covers the land, not the cloud itself, as when fog covers the ground.

You and all your hordes, and many peoples with you: Most of this phrase is repeated from verse 6 to emphasize the huge size of the Gog’s army. The last clause of this verse may be translated “You and all your army and the multitudes who are with you will cover the land like the shadow of a cloud.”

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 .