complete verse (Ezekiel 26:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 26:12:

  • Kupsabiny: “Those people shall become rich from your wealth and all your things. They shall tear down your walls and overturn your good houses and throw your stones, timber and all other things in the ocean.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They will-plunder your wealth and your things-for-selling. They will-destroy your stone-walls and your lovely/beautiful houses, and then they will-throw into the sea the stones, woods and all which was-left-behind from the ruins.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They will take away all the people’s valuable possessions and steal the things that the merchants sell. They will tear down the walls of the houses and destroy their fine houses. Then they will throw into the sea the stones from the walls of those houses and the timber and the rubble.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

2nd person pronoun with low register (Japanese)

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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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 26:12

They will make a spoil of your riches and a prey of your merchandise: The Hebrew changes to the third person plural pronoun They here, referring to the soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar’s army. For clarity translators may render this pronoun as “Your enemies” (Good News Translation) or “His soldiers.” The Hebrew words for spoil and prey refer to the things of value that soldiers take from the people they defeat in war (see 7.21). Your riches refers to Tyre’s “wealth” (Good News Translation, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “valuable possessions” (Contemporary English Version). Your merchandise refers to the goods that the merchants of Tyre have for sale (compare New Century Version “the things you sell”). This whole sentence may be rendered “His soldiers will take for themselves your valuable possessions and the goods [or, things] you have for sale [or, trade].”

They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses: Your walls refers to the city walls of Tyre (see Ezek 26.4). Your pleasant houses is literally “the houses of your desire.” These houses may be described as “fine” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, Revised English Bible, Moffatt), “nice” (New Century Version) or “lovely” (New Living Translation), or they may be portrayed as “expensive” (Contemporary English Version) or “luxurious” (Good News Translation, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible). Either focus is acceptable.

Your stones and timber and soil they will cast into the midst of the waters: The stones and timber (“wood” in Good News Translation) were the materials used for making the buildings of Tyre. The soil refers to the “rubble” (Good News Translation, New International Version, Revised English Bible), the debris of the demolished buildings, probably consisting of crushed plaster, broken stones, nails, and bits of wood (see Ezek 26.4). They will cast into the midst of the waters means the Babylonian soldiers will throw all the remains of the buildings in Tyre into the water, so that they cannot be used again. Tyre will be completely destroyed. Many languages will reorder this clause by saying “They will throw into the sea the stones and timber and the rubble [from the walls and houses].”

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 .