complete verse (Ezekiel 24:26)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 24:26:

  • Kupsabiny: “A person shall flee Jerusalem on that day and go and tell in Babylon what has happened.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “there is one who can-flee from Jerusalem who will-tell this to you.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “On that day, someone will escape from Jerusalem and come and tell you what has happened there.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 24:26

On that day a fugitive will come to you: A fugitive is someone who will escape from the destruction of Jerusalem. New Jerusalem Bible says “a survivor,” and Contemporary English Version has “someone will escape from the city” (similarly New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version, King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible). In some languages come to you will mean to go to where the readers are. If so, translators may say “go [or, arrive] to where you are.”

To report to you the news means “to tell you what has happened” (Contemporary English Version). The Hebrew phrase here is literally “for causing ears to hear,” so a better translation is “to report what has happened,” “to tell the news,” or “to come with the news.”

For a model of this verse see the discussion on verse 27.

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 .