וַיְדַבֵּ֖ר אֵלָ֑י זֹ֣ה הַלִּשְׁכָּ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֤ר פָּנֶ֨יהָ֙ דֶּ֣רֶךְ הַדָּר֔וֹם לַכֹּ֣הֲנִ֔ים שֹׁמְרֵ֖י מִשְׁמֶ֥רֶת הַבָּֽיִת׃
45He said to me, “This chamber that faces south is for the priests who have charge of the temple,
The cardinal directions “east” and “west” are easy to translate into Maan here since the language uses “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down.” For “north” the translator had “facing toward the sun rising to the left,” and for “south” she had “facing toward the sun rising to the right.” So the listener had to think hard before knowing what direction was in view when translating “to the north and south, to the east and west.” So, in case all four directions are mentioned, it was shortened by saying simply “all directions.” (Source: Don Slager) Likewise, Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) or Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).
Kankanaey is “from the coming-out and the going-away of the sun and the north and the south” (source: Kankanaey back-translation), Northern Emberá “from where the sun comes up, from where it falls, from the looking [left] hand, from the real [right] hand” (source: Charles Mortensen), Amele “from the direction of the sun going up, from the direction of the sun going down, from the north and from the south” (source: John Roberts), Ejamat “look up to see the side where the sun comes from, and the side where it sets, and look on your right side, and on your left” (source: David Frank in this blog post).
In Lamba, only umutulesuŵa, “where the sun rises” and imbonsi, “where the sun sets” were available as cardinal directions that were not tied to the local area of language speakers (“north” is kumausi — “to the Aushi country” — and “south” kumalenje — “to the Lenje country”). So “north” and “south” were introduced as loanwords, nofu and saufu respectively. The whole phrase is kunofu nakusaufu nakumutulesuŵa nakumbonsi. (Source C. M. Doke in The Bible Translator 1958, p. 57ff.)
“West” is translated in Tzeltal as “where the sun pours-out” and in Kele as “down-river” (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel).
In Morelos Nahuatl, “north” is translated as “from above” and “south” as “from below.” (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
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.”
See also cardinal directions / left and right.
Bratcher / Nida (1961) say this:
“However, rather than borrow local names for priests, some of which have unwanted connotations, a number of translations have employed descriptive phrases based on certain functions: (1) those describing a ceremonial activity: Pamona uses tadu, the priestess who recites the litanies in which she describes her journey to the upper or under-world to fetch life-spirit for sick people, animals or plants; Batak Toba uses the Arabic malim, ‘Muslim religious teacher;’ ‘one who presents man’s sacrifice to God’ (Bambara, Eastern Maninkakan), ‘one who presents sacrifices’ (Baoulé, Navajo), ‘one who takes the name of the sacrifice’ (Kpelle, and ‘to make a sacrifice go out’ (Hausa); (2) those describing an intermediary function: ‘one who speaks to God’ (Shipibo-Conibo) and ‘spokesman of the people before God’ (Tabasco Chontal).”
In Obolo it is translated as ogwu ngwugwa or “the one who offers sacrifice” (source: Enene Enene), in Mairasi as agam aevar nevwerai: “religious leader” (source: Enggavoter 2004), in Ignaciano as “blesser, one who does ritual as a practice” (using a generic term rather than the otherwise common Spanish loan word sacerdote) (source: Willis Ott in Notes on Translation 88/1982, p. 18ff.), and in Noongar as yakin-kooranyi or “holy worker” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).
For Guhu-Samane, Ernest Richert (in The Bible Translator, 1965, p. 81ff. ) reports this:
“The [local] cult of Poro used to be an all-encompassing religious system that essentially governed all areas of life. (…) For ‘priest’ the term ‘poro father’ would at first seem to be a natural choice. However, several priests of the old cult are still living. Although they no longer function primarily as priests of the old system they still have a substantial influence on the community, and there would be more than a chance that the unqualified term would (in some contexts particularly) be equated with the priest of the poro cult. We learned, then, that the poro fathers would sometimes be called ‘knife men’ in relation to their sacrificial work. The panel was pleased to apply this term to the Jewish priest, and the Christian community has adopted it fully. [Mark 1:44, for instance, now] reads: ‘You must definitely not tell any man of this. But you go show your body to the knife man and do what Moses said about a sacrifice concerning your being healed, and the cause (base of this) will be apparent.'”
For a revision of the 1968 version of the Bible in Khmer Joseph Hong (in: The Bible Translator 1996, 233ff. ) talks about a change in wording for this term:
Bau cha r (បូជាចារ្យ) — The use of this new construction meaning “priest” is maintained to translate the Greek word hiereus. The term “mean sang (មាន សង្ឃ)” used in the old version actually means a “Buddhist monk,” and is felt to be theologically misleading. The Khmer considers the Buddhist monk as a “paddy field of merits,” a reserve of merits to be shared with other people. So a Khmer reader would find unthinkable that the mean sang in the Bible killed animals, the gravest sin for a Buddhist; and what a scandal it would be to say that a mean sang was married, had children, and drank wine.
And he said to me: Most translators will have to identify the speaker here, to remind readers that it was the angelic guide who spoke to Ezekiel (see Ezek 40.3).
This chamber which faces south is for the priests who have charge of the temple: This chamber which faces south is the room that was beside the north gatehouse (see verse 44). The priests did not live there. They probably only used it when they were on duty. What did their duties entail? To have charge of the temple implies that they were responsible for the Temple (compare New Jerusalem Bible “responsible for the service of the Temple”), that is, they controlled and oversaw what happened in the Temple. Some translations take this clause to mean that they “perform the duties of the Temple” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or simply “served in the Temple” (Good News Translation; similarly Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), but others claim that they were the Temple guards who made sure that nothing damaged the holiness of the Temple (so Block). It is likely that their duties included all of these. For priests see the comments on 1.3. It may be rendered “men who did God’s ceremonies.”
And the chamber which faces north is for the priests who have charge of the altar: The chamber which faces north is the room that was beside the east (or south) gatehouse. To have charge of the altar means these priests were responsible for the sacrifices themselves. But Block argues that they were also Temple guards who were particularly responsible to ensure that the altar was safe from damage and remained holy. Again, the priests in this group probably filled both roles. Altar may be translated “table [or, platform] where people offered sacrifices to God” (see the comments on 6.4 and 8.16).
These are the sons of Zadok, who alone among the sons of Levi may come near to the LORD to minister to him: Zadok was a member of the priestly line of Levi, being a descendant of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the first High Priest of Israel (see 1 Chr 6.50-53). Zadok was a High Priest in the time of King David (see 2 Sam 8.17; 15.24-36; 1 Kgs 1.8) and after that his descendants were the high priests in Jerusalem until the Babylonians destroyed the city and the Temple during Ezekiel’s time. The sons of Zadok are those who “are descended from Zadok” (Good News Translation), that is, “[the] descendants of Zadok” (New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Who alone among the sons of Levi may come near to the LORD to minister to him means the descendants of Zadok were “the only Levites allowed to serve as the LORD’s priests” (Contemporary English Version). Good News Translation says “they are the only members of the tribe of Levi who are permitted to go into the LORD’s presence to serve him,” and New International Reader’s Version has “They are the only Levites who can approach the LORD to serve him” (similarly New Century Version, Revised English Bible). This whole sentence refers to both groups of priests mentioned in verses 45-46. Translators need to be careful to make this clear and not give the impression that it was only the second group who were the sons of Zadok.
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 .