running and never coming back

In Gbaya, the notion of running far and never coming back in the referenced verses is emphasized with the ideophone sóróm.

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

complete verse (Ezekiel 5:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 5:12:

  • Kupsabiny: “An epidemic shall finish a portion of your people and hunger shall destroy/kill others. Others will be killed outside the city and I shall spread others to all parts of the land and chase them with the sword.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I will-divide you into three parts. One part will-die through famine and diseases there in the city. The other part will-die by sword outside the city. And the remaining part I will-scatter to the entire earth and I will-continue to pursue them.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “One-third of your people will die inside the city because of the plagues they will experience or by famine/lack of food. One-third of your people will be killed byyour enemies’ swords outside the city. And one-third I will cause to be scattered in all directions; butyour enemies will still pursue you and kill you with their swords.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 5:12

Here it becomes absolutely clear that the threatening symbolic actions of Ezekiel in verses 1-2 apply to Jerusalem. God himself will punish Jerusalem and its people, just as Ezekiel had acted out.

A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in the midst of you: A third part of you refers to one third of the people of Jerusalem. This group of people corresponds to the first pile of Ezekiel’s hair. They will die of pestilence and be consumed with famine, that is, some of them will become sick and die, and others will starve to death. Pestilence is a plague, disease, or sickness. This will happen in the midst of you, that is, inside Jerusalem while the siege is taking place. Starvation and the spread of diseases due to malnourishment and unsanitary conditions always caused many casualties in a besieged city. There is no contradiction with verse 2 here, because corpses were usually burned during a siege to prevent further spread of disease.

A third part shall fall by the sword round about you; and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them: The fate of the other two thirds of the people of Jerusalem, which correspond to the second and third piles of hair, is described in the same terms as in verse 2 (see the comments there). The second group will fall by the sword round about you, that is, they will be killed as they try to escape from Jerusalem. The third group God will scatter to all the winds, that is, he will scatter them in all directions. Here in verse 12 God scatters them, but in verse 2 he commanded Ezekiel to scatter them. I … will unsheathe the sword after them means God will pursue them and kill them.

Here is one way to render this verse:

• One third of you will die in the city from disease and starvation. One third of you will be killed by the enemy [or, The enemy will kill a third of you] as you try to leave the city. And I will drive out the rest of you into all parts of the world where I will pursue you and kill you.

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 .