complete verse (Ezekiel 26:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 26:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “He shall kill all the people of the cities that are at the shore of the ocean. He shall prepare things used to surround your city while piling up things there by the wall and use them to fight you.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He will-have- your residents at the other-side of the sea -killed by the sword. His soldiers will-attack with little-towers, and shields, and they will-gather soil beside your stone-wall to climb- this -up.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “In the battles in the small villages on the coast, their soldiers will kill many people with their swords. Then they will set up devices to batter the wall around the city of Tyre, and they will build a dirt ramp up to the top of the wall, and they will all hold up shields to protect themselves from arrows being shot from the ground.” (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 26:8

He will slay with the sword your daughters on the mainland: See Ezek 26.6. Although Nebuchadnezzar is the subject here, he will not do this alone—the soldiers of his army will do it for him. This clause may be rendered “His army will kill with their swords [or, in battle] the people who live in your villages on the shore across from the island.”

He will set up a siege wall against you: A siege wall is a wooden tower or earthen mound built outside a city wall so that soldiers can shoot arrows over the wall into the city (see 4.2). This clause may be rendered “They will build towers to attack you.”

And throw up a mound against you means they will pile up dirt against the city wall as a ramp (see 4.2). Translators may say “and they will build a mound of dirt against your walls in order to attack you.”

And raise a roof of shields against you is literally “and he will raise a shield on you.” Revised Standard Version understands this clause to refer to the Roman military practice called the Tortoise. When Roman soldiers attacked a city wall, they interlocked their shields above their heads for protection against the arrows and spears of the enemy. This technique was only invented later—the Babylonians did not use it. Rather, the Babylonians set up large shields to protect their archers as they shot arrows at those who were defending a city. Revised English Bible renders a roof of shields as “a screen of shields,” Contemporary English Version has “rows of shields,” and Good News Translation says “a solid wall of shields.” Translators may also say “rows of shields for the soldiers to stand behind for protection [or, so that they will not be shot with arrows or spears].” Against you means against Tyre. Some translators may need to expand this phrase slightly to “ready to attack 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 .