Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 45:13:
Kupsabiny: “These are the gifts that are to be brought to the king for sacrifices. Take out/remove one in sixty of wheat and barley and give it out.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “‘These are the offerings that you should bring to the leader of Israel: The-60th part of your wheat and barley produce/harvest,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “‘ ‘You must present to the king one bushel of wheat or barley for every 60 that you harvest.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Two kinds of wild wheat have grown in the open deciduous oak woodland in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent for several thousand years: Einkorn Wheat Triticum monococcum and Emmer Wheat Triticum dicoccum. Both came into cultivation together with barley. Just before the time of the Romans, the Naked Bread Wheat or Hard Wheat Triticum durum started replacing the hulled varieties. This then became the favorite type of wheat for bread and macaroni. Spelt is a sub-member of the Triticum aestivum species.
In New Revised Standard Version, updated edition and some other versions, the generic Hebrew word bar has been rendered “wheat” in Jeremiah 23:28 et al. This is legitimate, since the grain referred to by bar was probably wheat. However, it might be better to say “grain” in these passages.
The most important early wheat for the Israelites was emmer, probably the only wheat known in Egypt, and referred to in Hebrew as chittah. However, according to Hepper (Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants: Flowers and Trees, Fruits and Vegetables, Ecology. Baker Book House, 1992), the seven-headed wheat of the Egyptian king’s dream (Genesis 41:5ff.) suggests that there may also have been Triticum turgidum (rivet wheat) in the emmer group. The Hebrew word kusemeth probably refers to a type of emmer wheat that the Egyptians called swt.
Wheat is a type of grass like rice and barley, growing to around 75 centimeters (2.5 feet) in height and having a head with many small grains in rows.
Bread made from wheat was the staple food for the people of ancient Israel, so God punished them by breaking “the staff of bread” (see, for example, Ezekiel 4:16).
If wheat is unfamiliar, translators can transliterate from a major language in non-rhetorical contexts (for example, English witi, Portuguese trigo, French ble or froment, Swahili ngano, Arabic kama/alkama). The transliteration may add a generic tag such as “grain.” The New Testament passages are mostly rhetorical, opening the possibility for a metaphorical equivalent.
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
Barley Hordeum distichum or Hordeum vulgare is a type of grass like wheat and rice. It has been cultivated in the Middle East for thousands of years and is now one of the most prominent seed crops grown in the world. Twenty species are known, of which eight are European. Barley needs less rain than wheat does, so in the Holy Land it was typically found in the drier areas above the coastal plain and near the desert. From 2 Kings 7:1 and Revelation 6:6 we know that barley was considered inferior to wheat and was often used to feed animals, as it is today. When the wheat supply ran out, people had to make their bread with barley. Barley was gathered before wheat, the harvest coming around March or April in the lower regions and in May in the mountains (see Exodus 9:31 et al.). In Egypt and in ancient Greece barley was used to make beer.
Barley plants look like wheat or rice. They are less than 1 meter (3 feet) tall, and have a single head on each stalk, with six rows of kernels, although the biblical kind may have had only two rows. The head bends at a down-ward angle when it is ripe.
In the story of Gideon and the Midianites in Judges 7:13, “a cake of barley” representing the (despised) Israelite army tumbles into the Midianite camp and knocks down the tent (representing the nomadic Midianites).
Barley is a plant of temperate zones, like Europe and the Near East; it does not grow well in the tropics. However, barley has been recently introduced along with wheat into many parts of the world for brewing beer and other malted drinks. It is also known to have grown in Korea as early as 1500 B.C. along with wheat and millet. It is becoming known in Malay as barli. Except for the reference in Judges, all references to barley in the Bible are non-rhetorical, so unrelated cultural equivalents are discouraged. Some receptor language speakers may coin a name for it as in Malay, or the translator can use a transliteration from Hebrew (se‘orah), Latin (horideyo), or from a major language (for example, Arabic sha’ir, Spanish cebada, French orge, Portuguese cevada, Swahili shayiri), together with a classifier, if there is one (for example, “grain of shayir”).
This is the offering which you shall make: This clause introduces the offerings that the Israelites and their ruler must bring to the new Temple for the worship of God. New Living Translation renders this clause as “You must give this tax to the prince” (similarly Christian Community Bible), presumably on the basis of verse 16, but it is clear that the contributions here are for the Temple worship, not for secular use by the king. Offering refers to the “special gift” (New International Version, New International Reader’s Version), or “contributions” (Revised English Bible), that the people must bring to give to God. The Hebrew pronoun for you is plural and probably refers to all the people, not just the “Leaders” (Contemporary English Version). This clause may be rendered “This is the gift each of you must offer to God” or “These are the things you must offer to God.”
One sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and one sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley: There were ten ephahs in one homer (see verse 11), so one sixth of an ephah from each homer means “one sixtieth” (so Good News Translation) of wheat and barley must be given to God. Wheat and barley no doubt refer to the grain from their harvests (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation). For wheat and barley, see the comments on 4.9. A way to express these two phrases is “After you harvest your crops, you will give one part out of sixty of your wheat and one part out of sixty of your barley” or “After you harvest your crops, you will divide all your wheat into sixty parts and give one part to God. Do the same with your barley.”
And as the fixed portion of oil, one tenth of a bath from each cor: The fixed portion of oil refers to the amount of oil that the people are legally required to give to God. New International Version and New American Standard Bible say “the prescribed portion of oil.” This oil is “olive oil” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation; see the comments on 16.9). Translators may say “oil from the olive [fruit]” or “oil for cooking.” For the bath, which was the standard measure for measuring liquids, see the comments on verses 10-12. According to the parenthetical comment that follows this phrase, there were ten baths in one cor, so one tenth of a bath from each cor means one-hundredth (so Good News Translation) of the olive oil harvested must be given to God. For cor, which was a liquid measure. This whole phrase may be rendered “You will also give one part out of one hundred of every measure of olive oil you get from your harvest.”
(The cor, like the homer, contains ten baths): These words in parentheses simply indicate that the cor and the homer were the same size.
And one sheep from every flock of two hundred, from the families of Israel: The Hebrew word for sheep may refer to either sheep or goats (see the comments on 34.17). Instead of from the families of Israel, which follows the Septuagint, the Hebrew text has “from the well-watered pastures of Israel” (New International Version; similarly New International Reader’s Version, New King James Version ). According to the Hebrew text, the sheep (or goats) are to come from the fertile country in Israel. The Septuagint suggests that each Israelite family or clan must contribute an animal (so Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible, Christian Community Bible, Moffatt), similar to the rules for the Passover (see Exo 12.3), but this reading does not fit well in the context. It is better to follow the Hebrew text here (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). A model that does this is “You must give one sheep or goat out of every two hundred from the rich pasturelands of Israel.”
This is the offering for cereal offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings: The demonstrative pronoun This refers to the wheat, barley, oil, and sheep. They are to be used for the three types of offerings listed here. For cereal offerings (“grain offerings” in Good News Translation), see 42.13; for burnt offerings (“animals to be burned whole” in Good News Translation), see 40.38; and for peace offerings (“animals for fellowship offerings” in Good News Translation), see 43.27.
The goal of these sacrifices is to make atonement for them, that is, so that God will forgive the sins of the Israelites. For the idea of atonement, see the comments on 43.20.
Says the Lord GOD: The list of required offerings ends with the same prophetic formula as verse 9 (see the comments there).
As in verses 10-12, many readers will find the references to ephah, homer, bath, and cor confusing and very difficult to follow. Unless they have appropriate equivalents in their language, it is acceptable for translators to get the message across without weighing the readers down with all of the details here. This will be especially desirable for those languages in which fractions such as one-sixtieth or one-hundredth are substantially meaningless. Here is a model for the most basic rendering of verses 13-15 that would be acceptable:
• 13-14 “These are the things you [plural] must bring as offerings to me [God]: one cup out of each bag of wheat and barley, and one small cup out of every drum of olive oil. You must do this and you must use the standard measures that everyone knows. 15 Also, if you have 200 sheep or goats in your good fields, you must give one [to me]. These are the things you must give for the offerings of grain, for the sacrifices where the whole animal is burned on the altar, and for the sacrifices that are burned to ask me to bless you. These are the sacrifices that will allow me to forgive your sins and take away your guilt. This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say.
Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version provide other models for those languages in which the fractions are meaningful. They omit the ancient units of measurement, except at the end of verse 14, where Contemporary English Version has “These things will be measured according to the bath, and ten baths is the same as one homer or one cor.” Since the other references to these units of measurement have been omitted, this sentence adds little to the modern reader’s understanding of the passage. We recommend that the point of the sentence be made clear by saying “You must use the standard measures that everyone knows.”
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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