Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 1:2:
Kupsabiny: “And on that fifth day of that month in the fifth year after king Jehoiachin had been taken to another country to become a prisoner,” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I am Ezekiel the priest the child of Buzi, and I was one of those who-were-taken-captive to Babilonia. One day, when I was-living beside the River Kebar together-with the others captives, the heaven opened-up and I was-empowered by the LORD, and then he showed me visions. This happened on the fifth day of the fourth month on the 30th year. This was the fifth year of the captivity of King Jehoyakin.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “I am Ezekiel, a priest, the son of Buzi. When I was 30 years old, I wasliving among theIsraeli people who had been exiled from/forced to leave Judahand had come to Babylon. I was living along the Kebar River/Canalsouth of Babylon. Almost five years after King Jehoiachin had been exiled/forced to leave Judah, on the fifth day of the fourth monthof that year, it was as though the sky was opened and I saw visions from God. On that day,” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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.”
On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin): Another dating formula appears here. It is in the third person and gives a definite date, that is, the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin, which was 593 B.C. This formula is very similar to those in Hag 1.1 and Zech 1.1. In those books it functions as a heading for the following vision. Here in Ezekiel it functions in the same way.
However, this formula lacks the number of the month, and scholars usually assume that it was left out because it was the same as that in verse 1, that is, the fourth month. This is a reasonable assumption, but there is no way to be sure. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have followed this assumption, for they also omit the reference to the fifth day, because that too is the same as verse 1. This leaves Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version with only the reference to the fifth year, which they use to make the uncertain date in verse 1 specific. This is undesirable, because the date in verse 1 is so uncertain, as we have seen. It would be better to keep the uncertainty by keeping the two dates in these two verses separate. New International Version has done this by beginning a new paragraph at verse 2.
After the uncertainty of the first date in verse 1, Ezekiel more carefully records here the date of the vision he is about to describe. It was nearly five years after the Babylonians had taken King Jehoiachin, Ezekiel and many others as prisoners. For those translators who include footnotes in their Bibles, it is appropriate to indicate that this date was probably July 31, 593 B.C. The fifth year means that it was at least four years but not yet five. Therefore Contemporary English Version is incorrect with “Five years after….” Good News Translation gives a better model with “It was the fifth year since….” Another possibility is “Nearly five years after….”
This verse may be translated as follows:
• Nearly five years after King Jehoiachin was deported [or, taken into exile], on the fifth day of the month….
• Nearly five years after Nebuchadnezzar took King Jehoiachin as a prisoner to Babylonia, on the fifth day of the month….
However, translators should follow the most natural order of recording dates in their own language.
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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