cubit

The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek that is translated as “cubit” or into a metric or imperial measurement in English is translated in Kutu, Kwere, and Nyamwezi as makono or “armlength.” Since a cubit is the measurement from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, one armlength (measured from the center of the chest to the fingertips) equals two cubits or roughly 1 meter. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

Similarly, in Akoose, the translation is “arm distance.” (Source: Joseph Nkwelle Ngome and Marlie van Rooyen & Jacobus A. Naudé in Communicatio 2009, p. 251ff.)

In Klao it is converted into “hand spans” (app. 6 inches or 12 cm) and “finger spans” (app. 1 inch or 2 cm) (source: Don Slager) and in Bariai into leoa or “fathom,” which comprises the distance from a person’s fingertip to fingertip with arms outstretched, app. 6 feet (source: Bariai Back Translation).

complete verse (Ezekiel 4:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 41:5:

  • Kupsabiny: “Then the man measured the thickness of the wall of the House of God. He found that (it) was ten and a half feet. Rooms that had a breath/width of seven feet had been built into this wall all around.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then the man measured the stone-wall of the temple, and ten feet was its thickness. At this stone-wall, there was a row of rooms that the width was seven feet.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then he measured the wall of the temple: It was 10-1/2 feet/3.3 meters thick.There was a row of rooms along the outside wall of the temple. Each of those rooms was 7 feet/2.1 meters wide.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 41:5

Ezekiel does not mention moving out of the Temple, but the next measurements focus on buildings outside the Temple, so it is reasonable to assume that Ezekiel and his guide came out of the Temple before these measurements were taken. Translators may include an indication of this movement if it is necessary for the flow of the narrative in their language; for example, they may begin this verse with “Then he led me outside the Temple.”

Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits thick: Next the man measured the wall of the temple (literally “the wall of the house”). It was six cubits, that is, 3 meters (10 feet), thick.

And the breadth of the side chambers, four cubits, round about the temple: Next the man measured the side chambers. Ezekiel does not say what these “side rooms” (New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version) were used for, but Contemporary English Version calls them “storage rooms.” They were round about the temple, that is, on the north, west and south sides of the Temple, but not on the east side, that is, across the front. Their width was four cubits, that is, 2 meters (7 feet). We have not heard of these side chambers before, and they are introduced so abruptly that translators in most languages will do well to mention that they were there before giving the measurements; for example, the last half of this verse may be rendered “There were side rooms all around the Temple. They were 2 meters wide.”

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 .