6But she has rebelled against my ordinances and my statutes, becoming more wicked than the nations and the countries all around her, rejecting my ordinances and not following my statutes.
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 5:6:
Kupsabiny: “But badness/immorality made it refuse my laws and my will more than the communities and countries that surrounded it. They did not fear/respect me or follow the words I am saying.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “But she disobeyed my commands, and she is more wicked than the other nations around her. She rejected my commands and regulations/statutes.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “But the wicked people of Jerusalem rebelled against obeying my commands, and they show that they are more wicked than the people of the surrounding countries. They rejected my laws and refused to obey my commands.’” (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.
And she has wickedly rebelled against my ordinances more than the nations: In this context the Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And may also be translated “But” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Some translations have no conjunction at all (so Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible). Naturalness in the receptor language will determine the choice. The pronoun she refers to Jerusalem, that is, the people who lived in and around Jerusalem. It needs to be made clear in translation that the city of Jerusalem really means the people who lived there. In some languages using the name of the city to refer to the people is easily understood, but in others it will be better to say “her people.” Revised Standard Version‘s translation she has wickedly rebelled against my ordinances more than the nations is misleading in two ways. First, it gives the impression that God had given his ordinances, that is, his Law, to other nations as well as to Israel. But it is clear in the Old Testament that God gave his Law only to Israel, and not to the foreign nations. Second, Revised Standard Version has mistranslated the Hebrew word for wickedly. The Hebrew of this clause reads literally “she rebelled against my laws to [become] more wicked than the nations.” Good News Translation is closer to the Hebrew than Revised Standard Version, saying “Jerusalem rebelled against my commands and showed that she was more wicked than the other nations.” New Revised Standard Version is even better with “she has rebelled against my ordinances … becoming more wicked than the nations.” Rebelled against means “disobeyed.” The nations are the foreign nations among whom God had placed Jerusalem. The Revised Standard Version footnote on this clause may be ignored, because it follows some ancient versions that seem to have misunderstood the Hebrew.
Against my statutes more than the countries round about her has almost the same meaning as against my ordinances more than the nations. Many translations combine these two phrases; for example, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh begins this verse with “But she rebelled against My rules and My laws, acting more wickedly than the nations and the countries round about her.” This is an acceptable rendering.
The Hebrew words for ordinances and statutes are almost synonymous, but their meaning can be distinguished. Ordinances (mishpat in Hebrew) refer to the provisions of civil and criminal law, the decisions made by rulers and judges in the law courts, and the laws and legal judgments that regulate people’s lives. This word is best rendered “laws” (New International Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible) or “commands” (so Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Statutes (chuqah in Hebrew) are the commandments and laws enacted by a ruler or government; they are fixed and definite. This word is best rendered “rules” (New Century Version, Bible en français courant) or “laws” (Good News Translation, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). In many languages it may be difficult to distinguish these two words. In those cases, and where repetition of very similar terms is cumbersome, it is acceptable to use one well-known term to cover both the Hebrew words, for example, “laws” (so Contemporary English Version) or “commandments.” Alternatively, my ordinances and my statutes may be rendered “the things that I commanded them to do.”
By rejecting my ordinances and not walking in my statutes is literally “because [or, surely] they have rejected my laws and they have not walked in my rules.” This clause begins with the Hebrew word ki, which can be a logical connector meaning “because,” or it can be an emphatic particle meaning “surely.” If it is understood as a logical connector, this clause gives the reason why the people of Jerusalem became more wicked than their neighbors (so New King James Version , Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). It is better to understand ki as an emphatic particle here because this clause is a climax and repeats ideas from the first half of the verse. Many translations take it this way, even though they do not include a word such as “surely” (so New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Century Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). “Essentially,” “Indeed,” “In truth,” and “In fact” are good renderings of this emphatic particle. The Hebrew verb rendered rejecting means “deliberately ignore,” “neglect,” “disobey,” or “show contempt for.” Walking in is used metaphorically here with the meaning of “live according to” or “obey.” This clause may be rendered “Indeed, they have disobeyed my laws and have not behaved according to the rules I gave them.”
In Hebrew this verse begins with the singular pronoun she to refer to the people of Jerusalem, but the last clause uses the plural pronoun “they.” Some translations simply follow the pronouns used in Hebrew (so New King James Version , New Jerusalem Bible). Others change the plural to the singular for consistency (so Good News Translation, New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or use plural throughout (so Contemporary English Version, Bible en français courant). Each of these approaches is acceptable as long as the meaning is clear. However, if translators wish to reflect the Hebrew closely and use singular first and then plural, it would be wise to make the identity of the subjects explicit. This can be done by mentioning “the city of Jerusalem” in the first part of the verse and “the people of Jerusalem” in the last part.
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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