complete verse (Ezekiel 41:26)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 41:26:

  • Kupsabiny: “There were windows on the sides of the veranda and the doors were decorated with palm trees.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “On each side of the balcony there were small windows that had palms decoration near it. The rooms beside the temple had also a somewhat-like-a-roof.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “On the side walls of the entry room were narrow windows with figures of palm trees carved on the sides of the windows. The side rooms around the temple also had roofs.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 41:26

And there were recessed windows and palm trees on either side, on the sidewalls of the vestibule: There were recessed windows, that is, niches (see 40.16) in the front wall of the Temple, and palm trees were carved there also. They were on either side, on the sidewalls of the vestibule, that is, on the front wall on each side of the entrance to the porch.

As the Revised Standard Version and GNT footnotes show, these translations have omitted the last few Hebrew words of this verse (so also New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation [1996], Revised English Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). The words that are omitted mean “And the side chambers of the temple and the canopies” (Revised Standard Version footnote). It is possible that these words simply follow on from the previous part of the verse and describe additional places where the niches and palm carvings were (so New King James Version with “also on the side chambers of the temple and on the canopies”). But it is also possible that these words are an independent clause, meaning “and the side rooms of the Temple also had canopies” (so New International Version with “The side rooms of the temple also had overhangs”; similarly New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version). It is easy to see why there may have been such protective verandas for the front of the Temple itself and for its side rooms, even though Ezekiel does not describe it clearly. Therefore we recommend that translators do not leave out the last words of this verse, as Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have done. They may choose either of the alternative interpretations given. For “side chambers,” see Ezek 41.5; for “canopies” see the previous verse.

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 .