It has awakened against you

The Hebrew in Ezekiel 7:6 that is translated as “It has awakened against you” or similar in English is translated in Lambya as “It has awakened against you, oh Israel.” Lambya does not distinguish between “you” (pl.) and “them” (as object). It was therefore decided to make the object explicit. (Source: project-specific notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Ezekiel 7:6)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 7:6:

  • Kupsabiny: “The end has come and you are going to be destroyed! It has now come to you!” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “This is now the end! You are surely finished,” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “This will be the endof Israel; your country will be finished! And your lives will be ended !” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 7:6

An end has come, the end has come; it has awakened against you: This sentence has a play on words in Hebrew, which is qets baʾ baʾ haqets heqits ʾelayik. The Hebrew noun qets means “end” (used also in verse 2), and the verb qits means “awaken” or “arouse.” It is easy to see how people who copied the text could become confused. This text also explains how a reading like that in Good News Translation could arise, with its threefold repetition of the idea of “end.” It is better not to follow Good News Translation here, but to retain the play on words in the receptor language, if possible. For the end has come, see the comments on Ezek 7.2. The Hebrew verb rendered awakened contains the ideas of being roused from sleep (so New International Version, Revised English Bible), stirring (so New Century Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), starting to move (so New Jerusalem Bible), and dawning like a day (so New King James Version ). The Hebrew pronoun for you is singular here, referring to the land of Israel. If the play on words here cannot be kept, it should be possible to retain the staccato, repetitious style that is so characteristic of this chapter. Translators may say “The end has come. Yes, the end has come and been stirred [to move] against you” or “The final disaster has come. Disaster has come, and is stirred against you.”

Behold, it comes reinforces that the end will come soon for Israel. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “there it comes!”

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 .