16Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem, and from that time until now it has been under construction, and it is not yet finished.’
The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezra 5:16:
Kupsabiny: “So, Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundation of the House of God in Jerusalem. From those days to date, construction has been going on.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “So Sheshbazzar came to Jerusalem and laid the foundation of the temple of God. From that time until now the work of building the temple had been going on, but even now it was still not finished.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “Therefore Sheshbazar went to Jerusalem and he built the foundations of the temple of God. Until now the temple is-being built-up; it is not finished yet.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “So Sheshbazzar did that. He came here to Jerusalem, and supervised the men who laid the foundation of the temple. And since that time, the people have been working on the temple, but it is not finished yet.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
Sheshbazzar is named as the governor who laid the foundations of the house of God, while in Ezra 3.8 Zerubbabel is named as the one responsible when the foundation was laid. The relationship between Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel is not clear from the text, but the Jewish leaders probably referred to Sheshbazzar since he was the one to whom King Cyrus delivered the Temple vessels and he would have been named in the royal archives. For foundations of the house, see Ezra 3.6.
From that time until now it has been in building: They claim that from that time (the time of Sheshbazzar) the Temple has been in building. From Ezra 4.5, 24 it is known that the rebuilding had not been continuous, but at least a beginning had been made in the time of King Cyrus. Therefore they present the work of rebuilding as going on from the time of Sheshbazzar up to their time.
It is not yet finished: The theme of finishing the work is repeated here, but it is not the same verb that was used before (for example, Ezra 4.12; 5.3). When this word is used about a building, the meaning is “to finish.” At the time when they were speaking, the work had not yet been completed.
This is the end of the quotation of the Jewish leaders’ reply. This is marked by a single closing quotation mark in both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation for the second level of quotation here (see verse 11 above)
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 .
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