complete verse (Ezekiel 42:5)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 42:5:

  • Kupsabiny: “The floors at the top level were narrow more than those on the mid-level and those at the mid-level were also narrow more than the bottom ones. It was like that because where one could walk on finished/used up some space.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The rooms in the third story were narrower than on the second story, and the rooms in the second story were narrower that the first story, for it needed a way to the upper story.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Each of the upper rows of rooms was narrower than the row of rooms below them, because the upper rows needed to have a walkway in front of them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 42:5

Now the upper chambers were narrower, for the galleries took more away from them than from the lower and middle chambers in the building: Now renders the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And”), which may be omitted here (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). A model for this verse is:

• The rooms that were on the top story were narrower than those on the middle and bottom stories because the platforms [or, balconies] used some of the space of the lower stories.

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 .