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 42:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 42:3:

  • Kupsabiny: “There were houses that looked towards one another and had rooms. One of them had its back towards where there was empty space in the inner courtyard, that one which had a width of thirty-five feet. And the other one had its back to where it was paved in the outer courtyard. They were built on top of one another to become three stories.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The rooms and the temple had a distance of 34 feet, and it was-facing the stone way in the outer courtyard. These rooms had three stories” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “In that building were two rows of rooms, built on three levels, that faced each other. One row of rooms was built against the wall of the inner courtyard, and the other row was built against the wall facing the outer courtyard. The building was 34 feet from the temple.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 42:3

Adjoining the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, and facing the pavement which belonged to the outer court …: The building of rooms north of the west building was between the Temple’s inner and outer courtyards. On its south side it was Adjoining the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, that is, it was next to the 10 meter (34 foot) wide courtyard plaza that surrounded the Temple (see 41.10). On its north side it was facing the pavement which belonged to the outer court, that is, it was next to the paved walkway that was in front of the rooms on the inside of the walls of the outer courtyard (see 40.17). Complete Jewish Bible provides a helpful model for the beginning of this verse, saying “It was located between the inner courtyard, which was thirty-five feet wide, and the flooring of the outer courtyard.” Instead of twenty cubits, the Septuagint has “gateways.” The Hebrew words for twenty cubits and “gateways” are very similar. The Septuagint reading is clearly a mistake (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project), since Ezekiel is not referring to gateways in this context.

Ezekiel describes the building itself as a gallery against gallery in three stories. Gallery renders the unknown Hebrew term that we understood as decorative “ledges” in 41.15-16, but here these “ledges” (so New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) seem to have been much larger because the width of the building reduced noticeably as the “ledges” became wider (see verses 5-6). They may have been “balconies” (New Century Version) or open areas on the roofs of lower rooms (so Good News Translation with “It was built on three levels, each one set further back than the one below it”). Even though it is not certain exactly what these galleries or balconies were, scholars agree that the building was three stories high, that is, there were three levels of rooms built one above the other. A gallery or a “balcony” is a platform that extends out from a building. In regions where buildings with “balconies” are not known or common, translators may say “platforms that extended out from the building.” There is no reason to assume that there were two identical rows of rooms facing each other (so New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation).

A model for this verse is:

• On one side of the building was the 10 meter wide plaza of the inner courtyard. On the other side was the [paved] walkway of the outer courtyard. The building itself was three stories high. It had balconies.

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 .