10Surely, parents shall eat their children in your midst, and children shall eat their parents; I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to every wind.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 5:10:
Kupsabiny: “Parents shall eat their children in Jerusalem and children their parents. I shall punish you and spread the people who remain to go/move to every other place.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “The parents will-eat their children, and the children will-eat their parents. I will- surely -punish you, and the survivors among you I will-scatter to the entire earth.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “As a result, parents among you will eat their children, and children will eat their parentsbecause there will be nothing else to eat. I will punish you severely, and I will cause those who will still be alive to be scattered in all directions.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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 first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Therefore …: The horrible punishment described here is due to God’s decision to punish the people very severely. Therefore may be rendered “This is why.”
Fathers shall eat their sons in the midst of you, and sons shall eat their fathers: Parents will eat their own children, and children will eat their own parents in the besieged city of Jerusalem. This depicts the horrible suffering that will happen in the city when it is being attacked by the Babylonians. The Hebrew text has fathers and sons. Nothing is said about mothers and daughters, but it seems logical that both sexes are intended, so translators may say “parents” and “children,” as in Good News Translation. But even if the translation is left in the masculine, the picture is still a horrible one. Contemporary English Version makes explicit the reason why the people will eat their own family members—they will be “so desperate for food.” This cannibalism will happen in the midst of you, that is, in Jerusalem. Translators may say “in the city.” The first part of this verse may be rendered “As a result, parents in the city will eat their own children, and children will eat their own parents.”
And I will execute judgments on you means God will punish the people of Jerusalem through cannibalism. For I will execute judgments, see 5.8. This clause may be rendered “This is the way I will carry out your punishment” or “That is how it will be when I will punish you.”
And any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds: This clause explains the meaning of what Ezekiel did to his third pile of hair (see Ezek 5.2). Any of you who survive refers to anybody from Jerusalem who does not die during the siege. I will scatter to all the winds means God will send the remaining population of Jerusalem into exile in many neighboring countries. This clause may be rendered “And if any of you survive, then I will drive you away in every direction to other countries.”
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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