41As a pleasing odor I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations.
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 20:41:
Kupsabiny: “I shall gather you from those countries I scattered you to and return you from there for you to come to one place. I shall accept you doing for me your sacrifices and other communities shall see that I am righteous.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “If I have- now -taken- you (plur.) -out from the nations where you have-scattered, I will-receive you (plur.) like a fragrant offering. I will-show to you (plur.) my holiness while the other nations are-looking.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “When I bring you out from the other nations to which you have been scattered, I will accept youas though you were fragrant incense. By doing that, I will show the people of other nations that I have set you apart to belong to me.” (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 choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
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 choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
As a pleasing odor I will accept you: When the “new Exodus” is complete, God will accept, that is, “be pleased with” (Contemporary English Version), the Israelites. They will be as a pleasing odor to him. Pleasing odor refers to the sweet-smelling smoke that rose from the altar when the priests burned incense during the sacrifices. People believed that, when the gods smelled this smoke, they were happy with the people. Ezekiel uses this metaphor to show that God will be happy with the people of Israel. In most languages it will be possible to keep the comparison here; for example, New Century Version renders this clause as “I will accept you like the pleasing smell of sacrifices,” and Contemporary English Version says “I will be pleased with you, just as I am pleased with the smell of the smoke from your sacrifices.” Some translations abandon the comparison altogether and understand the pleasing odor to refer to the sacrifices that the people will actually offer after they return to their land; for example, Bible en français courant says “I will accept your offerings with the soothing smell” (similarly Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). We do not recommend this interpretation because the Hebrew clearly says that God will accept you, that is, the people.
When I bring you out from the peoples, and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered: See verse 34.
Translators may reorder the first sentence of this verse as follows:
• When I take you out from among the peoples and countries where you have been scattered and gather you together, I will be pleased with you just as I am pleased with the sweet smell from burning sacrifices.
And I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations: In verses 9, 14 and 22, God refrained from punishing Israel so that his reputation would not be dishonored before the other nations. In the future God’s action in bringing his people home will have the opposite effect. Contemporary English Version says “Every nation on earth will see that I am holy.” Manifest … holiness renders the same Hebrew verb translated “sanctify” in verse 12 (see the comments there). If it is difficult to render the idea of holiness, translators may follow Revised English Bible here, which says “I alone shall have your worship, and the nations will witness it.” Other possible models are “All the nations will see that I am the true God” and “All the nations will see that I am perfect.”
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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