1Then he led me out into the outer court toward the north, and he brought me to the chambers that were opposite the temple yard and opposite the building on the north.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 42:1:
Kupsabiny: “Then that man turned/led me towards the North to the outer courtyard. He took me to a house that was built to touch upon the wall of the inner courtyard near the house that was on the side of West.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Then I was-brought by the man to the outer courtyard of the temple. There we went-through in the way on the north-side. And there he showed me the rooms which were in the northern of the inner courtyard and the building in the west.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Thenin the vision the man led me out of the inner courtyard, through the entrance on the north side. We entered the outer courtyard and came to a building that was built against the north wallof the inner courtyard.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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.” Manya uses a similar nomenclature for the cardinal 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.)
In Matumbi cardinal directions are defined as in relation to another place. “East” for instance typically is “toward the beach” since 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)
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.”
Then he led me out into the inner court: The connector Then (literally “And”) introduces the next event. The angelic figure continued to guide Ezekiel around the Temple compound. Then may be translated “Next” or “After that” (compare Contemporary English Version “After the man and I left the temple”). For Ezekiel’s angelic guide, see 40.3. Revised Standard Version follows the Septuagint by saying the man led Ezekiel into the inner court. The Hebrew clearly says “into the outer courtyard” (Good News Translation). Translators should not follow Revised Standard Version here. It is not clear exactly where Ezekiel was before the man took him into the outer courtyard. In the previous chapter the man took Ezekiel into the sanctuary of the Temple (see 41.1), but he may have come out again to describe the building at the back of the Temple and some external features of the building (see 41.12-15a). However, at the end of chapter 41 it appears that Ezekiel was standing somewhere in or near the front porch of the Temple (see 41.25-26). For “the outer courtyard,” see 40.17.
Toward the north: Ezekiel and the man presumably went out through the north gateway of the inner courtyard into the outer courtyard. New Living Translation expresses this clearly by beginning this verse with “Then the man led me out of the Temple courtyard by way of the north gateway. We entered the outer courtyard.”
And he brought me to the chambers which were opposite the temple yard and opposite the building on the north: There is no significant difference in the meaning of the Hebrew expressions rendered led me out (literally “caused me to go”) and brought me (literally “caused me to come”). Translators should use the most natural expression in their language (see the comments on 40.17). Chambers renders a singular noun in Hebrew, which has a collective sense here, referring to a “set of rooms” (Contemporary English Version), “group of rooms” (New Living Translation), “[block of] rooms” (Complete Jewish Bible). It was a “building” (Good News Translation) with rooms in it. This building stood opposite the temple yard, that is, next to the restricted area at the back of the Temple itself (see 41.9-10), and opposite the building, that is, close to the west building at the back of the Temple (see 41.12). On the north refers to the position of the block of rooms in relation to the west building and the restricted area, that is, the block of rooms were on the north side of the restricted area and the west building.
A model for this verse is:
• Next he [or, the man] led me out [of the Temple porch] through the north [gateway] into the outer courtyard, and we-two stopped by a block of rooms. These rooms faced the building and the restricted space [at the back of the Temple]. They were on the north side of that building.
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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