12But because our ancestors had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia.
The term that is transliterated as “Nebuchadnezzar” in English is translated in American Sign Language with the signs for “king” and one signifying a wavy beard, referring to the common way of wearing a beard in Mesopotamia (see here ). (Source: Ruth Anna Spooner, Ron Lawer)
“Nebuchadnezzar” in American Sign Language, source: Deaf Harbor
In Spanish Sign Language it is translated with a sign depicting “idol in my image,” referring to Daniel 3:1. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
The name that is transliterated as “Chaldean” in English means “astrologer,” “wanderers.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
In Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) it is translated with the sign that combines “Mesopotamia” (see here) and “spreading out,” since the Chaldeans originated in southern Mesopotamia and spread out from there. (Source: Missão Kophós )
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezra 5:12:
Kupsabiny: “But because our fathers made the God of heaven to be annoyed/angry, he left them to the hands of Nebuchadnezzar who hailed from the Chaldeans the one who was king of Babylon. He (Nebuchadnezzar) destroyed the House of God and took the people to become slaves in Babylon.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he gave our ancestors into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed this temple and took the people away to Babylon.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “But because our (excl.) ancestors caused- the God of heaven -to-become-angry, he let them to be-subject to Nebucadnesar the Chaldean, king of Babilonia. Nebucadnesar destroyed this temple and he took-captive our (excl.) ancestors in Babilonia.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “‘’But God, who rules in heaven, allowed the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylonia, to destroy that temple, because our ancestors did things that caused God to become very angry. Nebuchadnezzar’s army took many of the Israeli people to Babylonia.” (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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, watas-are-ru (渡される) or “hand over” is used.
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
The connector But is a contrastive conjunction to indicate that although the Temple had been built previously, it was later destroyed.
Because our fathers had angered the God of heaven: An explanation is given for the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the people in Babylonia. Our fathers (Good News Translation “our ancestors”) had caused the God of heaven to become angry. It is not explained here what they did to make God angry, but they were punished for their deeds.
God gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, that is, he “put them under the power of Nebuchadnezzar” (similarly Revised English Bible) or “let them be conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar” (Good News Translation). Nebuchadnezzar is called a Chaldean to identify his ethnic origin. The Chaldeans lived in southern Babylonia and founded the Neo-Babylonian Empire after the fall of the Assyrian Empire. In some languages being a member of a tribe is expressed as “son of” plus the tribe’s name. In other languages it may be preferable to specify that “his tribe was Chaldean” or “by race he was Chaldean.” For more information on Nebuchadnezzar and his title, see the comments on Ezra 1.7.
Who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia: The Jews explain that it was King Nebuchadnezzar who destroyed this house. The first meaning of the verb is “to hide, to remove from sight” and by extension it means “to destroy.” New English Bible says “who pulled down this house” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “who demolished this house.” Nebuchadnezzar also “carried the people captive to Babylon” (New English Bible). As in Ezra 2.1, both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation identify the place to which they were exiled as Babylonia because not all the exiles were kept in the city of Babylon itself. Babylonia is “the province of Babylon” or “the land of Babylon” (see the comment at Ezra 1.16).
Quoted with permission from Noss, Philip A. and Thomas, Kenneth J. A Handbook on Ezra. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2005. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
5:12a But since our fathers angered the God of heaven,
But, because our (excl.) ancestors caused the God who is in heaven to be angry, -or-
But, our ancestors ⌊disobeyed⌋ our (excl.) God who rules from heaven, and he was angry with them.
5:12b He delivered them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean
he caused them to be conquered/defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, a man from Chaldea who ruled Babylon. -or-
So he allowed King/Chief Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldean, to rule them.
5:12c who destroyed this temple and carried away the people to Babylon.
King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed this temple and took the people to Babylon as his prisoners/captives. -or-
Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the house of our (excl.) God ⌊here⌋ and forced our people to go and live in ⌊the land of⌋ Babylon.
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