11On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers east of the sea; it shall block the path of the travelers, for there Gog and all his horde will be buried; it shall be called the Valley of Hamon-gog.
The various Greek, Aramaic, Ge’ez, and Latin and Hebrew terms that are translated as “sea,” “ocean,” or “lake” in English are all translated in Chichewa with one term: nyanja. Malawi, where Chichewa is spoken, has a lot of lakes but does not share a border with the ocean (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation). Likewise, in Toposa all the different bodies of water are all called by one term as well: nya-name̥ (source: Schröder 2026, p. 101).
In Malagasy culture, the sea is perceived as sacred because it was a path taken by the ancestors. That is why the Malagasy word for the “sea” is ranomasina, which literally means “the sacred water.” The word masina actually has two different meanings: “salted” and “sacred/holy.” Salt is used for the conservation of some foods, such as meat or fish, that are to be set aside for later use. In this sense, the Malagasy phrase for “Holy Spirit” has the literal meaning of “Salted Spirit.” (Source: Brigitte Rabarijaona in The Bible Translator 2022, p. 103ff.)
“Sea” (or: “ocean”) is translated in Tepeuxila Cuicatec as “water land” and in Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac as “very big lake.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
According to Anne Garber Kompaoré (in Le Sycomore 3/2009, p. 34ff. ), there are 4 ways to identify cardinal directions:
1. celestial bodies, especially the sun and certain stars
2. geographical landmarks, for example a mountain, sea, or river (depending on its position or the direction in which the water flows) etc.
3. climatic phenomena, such as the wind and the direction from which rain comes
4. bodily reference points, especially front, back, left, and right, in relation to celestial bodies or geographical landmarks
Following are examples of how these are practically implemented by various languages: (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)
Celestial Bodies
East and west are often translated by the rising and the setting of the sun (note that the origin of English and other Indo-European languages is “dawn” for “east” and “evening” [i.e. sun-down] for “west”):
Maan: “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down” (source: Don Slager)
Kankanaey: “from the coming-out of the sun “and “going-away of the sun” (source: Kankanaey back-translation)
Northern Emberá: “from where the sun comes up” and “from where the sun falls” (source: Charles Mortensen)
Ejamat “the side where the sun comes from” and “the side where it sets” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
Tzeltal: “where the sun pours-out” (west) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Northern Ngbandi: “the sun behind the chief’s house” (east — the chief lives traditionally at the eastern side of the village, therefore he does not get the sunlight into his eyes) and “under the sun” (west)
Northwestern Dinka: “earth behind” (east — the place behind the earth, i.e. the area where the sun rises)
Jula: “salt village” (north — because salt comes from the north, from the Sahara Desert) and “kola village” (south — since kola comes from the coastal region to the south) (source: Garber Kompaoré)
Matumbi: “toward the beach” (East) (the coast is in the eastern direction in Matumbi-speaking areas), “north” and “south” can be defined as above or below another place (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Acoli: “right” (of the local White Nile) (north) and “left” (of the White Nile) (south)
Zande: “interior (dry) land” (east); “place-inside-country” (north / south) — Zande, like a number of other languages, including Matengo and Hehe, traditionally only has three cardinal directions.
Belanda Bor: “lower place” (north) and “higher place” (south)
Turkana: “(up)stream” (north) and (down)stream (south)
Mono (DRC): “water place” (south) (source for this and five above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Climatic Phenomena
Shilluk: “opening westwind” (north) and “opening eastwind” (south)
Swahili used to have six directions. In reducing them to four, kusini and kaskazini which used to refer to south-west and north east respectively (the directions from where the two monsoons blow) have become the terms for “south” and north.” (source for this and one above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Bodily Reference Points
Nuer / Burun: “face” and “sun face” respectively (both: east)
Kalenjin: “eye sun” (east) (this and the one above indicate that the sun is “facing” the spectator from its position in the east:
Shilluk: doesn’t use a fixed position of the speaker, instead it has “eye sun morning” for east and “eye sun evening” for west
Mono (DRC): “foot-sun” (east — the start of the sun’s journey)
Burun: “sun leg” (west — the end of the sun’s journey)
Bari: “back” (north — when people are facing south, north is at their back) (source for this and above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Northern Emberá “the looking [left] hand” (north) and “the real [right] hand” (south) (source: Charles Mortensen)
Morelos Nahuatl: “from above” (north) and “from below” (south) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
When all four directions are mentioned, translators tend to avoid listing the four, sometimes verbose terms, and chose solutions like “all directions” (such as in Maan or Manya (source: Don Slager). Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) and Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).
The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture. Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 39:11:
Kupsabiny: “On that day I shall set aside where Gog can be buried in Israel. (He) shall be buried in the valley of travelers that is on the East side of the Lake of Salt. Graves will close off this road of travelers because very many people will be buried with Gog. So, that place will be called ¨Valley of the soldiers of Gog.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “‘At that time, I will-bury Gog and his many men there in Israel, in the So-Called-Valley/Plain of the Ones-who-Travel, on the east side of the Dead Sea. This grave will-be very big, therefore the ones-who-travel can- no-longer -pass-by there. And this will- now be-called So-Called-Valley/Plain of Many Men of Gog.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “At that time I will create a graveyard for you, Gog, and your soldiers, in the valley east of the Dead Sea. That graveyard will block the road that travelers usually walk on, because you, Gog and all the soldiers of your huge army will be buried there. So it will be named ‘the Valley of Gog’s Huge Army’.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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 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.
Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version begin this verse with the quote frame “The LORD said,” since a new unit begins here. Other languages may find this helpful.
On that day may refer to the same specific day on which Gog will arrive in Israel and die (compare 38.18), or it may be a reference to the general time that this will happen (compare Good News Translation “When all this happens” and Contemporary English Version “After Gog has been destroyed”). The latter interpretation is preferable.
I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel: God will give Gog a burial place in Israel. Translators may say “I will give Gog a place in Israel where people can bury him.” Contemporary English Version says “I will bury him [Gog] … in Israel” (similarly New International Reader’s Version), but this rendering is incorrect in the light of the next few verses, which say that the people of Israel will bury Gog and his army. Some translations describe the burial place as “well-known” (New American Bible, Christian Community Bible) or “famous” (Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). This reading follows the Septuagint and Vulgate , but it involves a slight change to the Hebrew text. This change is unnecessary because the Hebrew clause here make perfectly good sense. It reads literally “I will appoint for Gog a place there as a graveyard in Israel.” In Israel stresses that Gog and his army will be buried in the land of Israel, perhaps in the same place where they died, although there is not enough evidence for this.
The place where they will be buried is the Valley of the Travelers east of the sea, but no one knows where it is. Revised English Bible transliterates the Hebrew word for Travelers, saying “the valley of Abarim” (so also the footnotes in Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version and Contemporary English Version), but the only places with that name that we know of are in Galilee and in Moab, neither of which is in Israel. Many translations take east of the sea to mean “east of the Dead Sea” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, Moffatt, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New International Version, New English Bible footnote), but this area is not within the borders of Israel either. So the sea most likely refers to the Mediterranean Sea, and Gog’s graveyard must be somewhere between the Mediterranean Sea on the west and the Dead Sea or the Jordan River on the east. However, the Hebrew phrase here may mean “east toward the sea” (so New International Version). If so, the sea could be the Dead Sea, but this does not change our conclusion that the burial place is between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea. We cannot be more specific than that. Rather than try to pinpoint an exact location, translators may render this whole phrase as “in the Valley of the Travelers, which is east of the ocean [or, sea].”
It will block the travelers: The burial place will be so large that it will block the way of anyone trying to travel through the valley. Good News Translation omits this clause, which we do not recommend. Contemporary English Version has “That graveyard will be so large that it will block the way of anyone who tries to walk through the valley.”
For there Gog and all his multitude will be buried gives the reason why the burial place will block the way through the valley. It is because of the large number of dead bodies from Gog’s army that will be buried there. The Hebrew expression for all his multitude stresses the huge size of his army. For the Hebrew word rendered multitude, see the comments on 30.10, where it is translated “wealth.”
It will be called the Valley of Hamon-gog: After Gog and his army are buried there, the place will receive a new name. Hamon transliterates the Hebrew word for multitude, and some translations reflect this meaning, for example, “the Valley of the Multitude of Gog” (Christian Community Bible), “the Valley of Gog’s Horde” (Revised English Bible), “The Valley of Gog-mob” (Moffatt), and “The Valley of Gog’s Army” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version). Translators may choose to retain the Hebrew name, or to give the meaning of the name (but see the comments on verse 16).
One way to translate the last half of this verse is:
• When Gog and all his army are buried there, travelers will not have room to pass. People will name that place the Valley of Gog’s Army [or, the Valley of Hamon-gog].
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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