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).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 47:3:
Kupsabiny: “The man led me towards the East having something to measure with. He measured the place and we went down five hundred meters. Then he told me to step in the water, and when I tried, the water reached to the ankle bone.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “We walked with the man towards-east beside the water, and he continued measuring. When it was about 1,700 feet of our walking, he had- me -go-into the water which was still just up to my ankle.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “As the man continued walking toward the east, he had a measuring line in his hand. He measured off 1,750 feet/530 meters, and then led me through water that covered my ankles.” (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.”
Going on eastward with a line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits: The pronoun his and the man refer to the angelic guide. Going on eastward means “The man walked east” (Contemporary English Version). No doubt Ezekiel walked with him. The guide had a line in his hand, that is, he was carrying “his measuring rod” (Good News Translation), “his measuring stick” (Contemporary English Version). Although the Hebrew term for line differs from the expression for “measuring reed” in 40.3, 5, it was probably the same measuring stick. Translators may use the same expression here as in chapter 40. He measured a thousand cubits means he used his measuring stick to measure 500 meters (560 yards). For a thousand cubits, New Century Version says “about one-third of a mile” (similarly Moffatt).
And then led me through the water is literally “and he caused me to pass through the water.” It is not clear whether the guide went into the water with Ezekiel after they were 500 meters from the Temple wall, or whether he sent Ezekiel by himself. Either interpretation is possible. Jerusalem Bible and New Jerusalem Bible say “he then made me wade across the stream,” and Good News Translation has “and told me to wade through the stream there” (similarly Contemporary English Version).
And it was ankle-deep: The water was very shallow, no more than 10 centimeters (4 inches) deep at most. Good News Translation says “The water came only to my ankles.”
Good News Translation provides a helpful model for this verse. Good News Translation makes it clear that Ezekiel and his guide were going downstream, that is walking 500 meters downstream away from the Temple and then wading out into the water.
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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