complete verse (Ezekiel 23:25)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 23:25:

  • Kupsabiny: “I will make them be harsh/rude to you in a very fierce way on account of the pain that I have. They shall cut off your nose and your ears and the soldiers that remain, the sword shall eat them. Your sons and your daughters shall be taken into exile and those that remain, fire shall destroy them.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “In my severe anger with you, I’ll have you punished by them. And in their anger they will-cut-off you nose and ears. They will-take-captive your children, and the-(ones) left with you they will-kill by sword or be-burned.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Because I am very angry with you, I will cause them to act very furiously toward you. They will cut off your noses and your ears. Then, those who are still alive, they will kill with their swords. They will take away your sons and daughters, and a fire will burn up those who remain alive.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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 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.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 23:25

And I will direct my indignation against you, that they may deal with you in fury: This sentence repeats the same idea as the one at the end of the previous verse—God will punish Oholibah by handing her over to her enemies to punish however they please. The Hebrew clause rendered I will direct my indignation against you is a strong way of saying God is angry with her. The Hebrew word for indignation is actually the one that is often rendered “jealousy” (King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New Jerusalem Bible; similarly New International Version, New Living Translation, Revised English Bible). Although the context of this passage is sexual unfaithfulness, the term “jealousy” has such a bad sense that it is best not to use it for God. It is better to use a word that expresses a very strong emotion such as “anger” (New Century Version; for more discussion on how to translate this word, see the comments on 5.13). They may deal with you in fury means they will do things to you in anger. Fury is another word for “anger” (Good News Translation, New Century Version). New Century Version provides a good model for this sentence, saying “Then you will see how strong my anger can be when they punish you in their anger.”

What follows next is a list of some of the cruel things that the Assyrians and Babylonians did to the people of Judah they captured. God describes how these things will be done to Oholibah.

They shall cut off your nose and your ears: This was probably done with a sword.

And your survivors shall fall by the sword: In the context of the parable your survivors means “your children” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), and shall fall by the sword means they will be killed (see 5.12). If translators cannot use a passive verb here, they may say “and they will kill your children with their swords.”

They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire: According to Good News Translation, this sentence is an emphatic repetition of how Oholibah’s children will be killed—they will be taken away from her and burned alive. But other translations take this sentence to refer to the historical situation of Jerusalem, and translate your survivors as “those of you who are left [after the rest have been killed]” (New International Version; similarly Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). This sentence then means they will take away the surviving children as prisoners and burn them alive. It is best to retain the parable if possible, but either interpretation is acceptable, because the book of Ezekiel often mixes historical details with parables. Translators may follow Good News Translation as a model for the first interpretation. A possible model for the second one is “They will capture your surviving sons and daughters and burn them alive.”

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 .