complete verse (Ezekiel 16:29)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 16:29:

  • Kupsabiny: “You involved yourselves with the Babylonians those people who like trading but that did not satisfy you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Your immorality increased more for you also committed-fornication with the ones from-Babilonia, the place of the merchant, but you were never still satisfied.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So you also had sex with soldiers from Babylonia, a country full of merchants/businessmen, but even that did not satisfy you.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 16:29

You multiplied your harlotry also with the trading land of Chaldea …: For multiplied your harlotry, see verse 25. The trading land of Chaldea refers to the Chaldeans, also known as the Babylonians (see 1.3), who were famous as merchants. They bought and sold goods for profit. The translation of this phrase may focus on the people; for example, Good News Translation has “the Babylonians, that nation of merchants” (similarly Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Or the translation may center on the land; for example, New Century Version says “Babylonia, the land of traders” (similarly New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Moffatt). However, the Hebrew expression for trading land is literally “land of Canaan,” so King James Version renders this phrase as “the land of Canaan unto Chaldea,” and Jerusalem Bible has “Canaanite and Chaldaean.” The meaning of these two versions is that the unfaithfulness of Israel (described in the parable as the sexual immorality of the girl) extended from Canaan (which was close to home) as far as Chaldea (that is, Babylonia, where they ended up in exile). This is a possible understanding of the phrase, although it is more likely that the word for “Canaan” means “trader” in this context. It developed this sense also because the Canaanites and the Phoenicians were famous as traders. Both of these interpretations fit the context of the girl still wanting more and more sex, as the last clause even with this you were not satisfied (see verse 28) implies.

A model for this verse is:

• You acted like a prostitute more and more in a country of merchants, the Babylonians, but that still didn’t satisfy you.

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 .