complete verse (Ezekiel 47:6)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 47:6:

  • Kupsabiny: “He told me, ‘Ezekiel, examine these things well.’ Then I was taken back to the bank of the river.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The man said to me, ‘Man, remember carefully/[lit. good] what you saw.’ Then he brought me back passing-by the side of that river.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then he said to me, ‘You human, think carefully about what you have seen.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 47:6

And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?”: It was clearly a miracle that the water increased from a small trickle to a large river in such a short distance and without any other rivers or streams flowing into it. Perhaps Ezekiel was stunned by what he saw and had been staring at it in amazement (so Block). Whatever the reason, the angelic guide asks him, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Unfortunately, a rhetorical question like this makes little sense because it is obvious that Ezekiel saw what had happened. Therefore some translations render it as an emphatic statement; for example, Good News Translation says “Mortal man, note this carefully,” and Contemporary English Version has “Ezekiel, son of man, pay attention to what you’ve seen.” For Son of man (International Children’s Bible “Human being”),

Then he led me back along the bank of the river: Revised Standard Version includes the word along to remove the implication that Ezekiel was actually in the river. The Hebrew reads literally “and he caused me to go and caused me to return [to] the bank of the river” (similarly King James Version / New King James Version), which implies that Ezekiel, and perhaps his guide as well, were in the river and had to return to the bank. Good models for this clause are “Then he brought me back to the bank of the river” (New American Standard Bible) and “Then, guiding me, he got me back to the riverbank” (Complete Jewish Bible).

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 .