complete verse (Ezekiel 32:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 32:13:

  • Kupsabiny: “I shall kill all the cattle at all the water holes until there is no cow or person who shall be muddying the water.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I will-kill all the animals of Egipto who graze beside the abundant water. Therefore no man or animal anymore will-murky/turbid/muddy the water.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I will destroy all the cattle in Egypt
    that graze/eat grass alongside the streams.
    As a result, the water in those streams will never again become muddy
    because of people and cattle walking in them.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (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 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 32:13

The description of God’s threatened destruction of Egypt continues in the next three verses.

I will destroy all its beasts from beside many waters: In this context the Hebrew word for beasts refers to the larger domesticated animals, not just bulls and cows. It also includes donkeys and camels, but not sheep and goats. Like Good News Translation, most English translations say “cattle.” In regions where cows and these other kinds of animals are completely unknown, translators may say “large animals they keep for food.” I will destroy all its beasts from beside many waters does not mean that God will kill all the cattle of Egypt on the banks of the rivers or “at every water hole” (Good News Translation). Rather, this clause implies that there will not be any animals left at any of the watering places, so a good model is “I will destroy all the cattle in Egypt so there won’t be any left at the many watering places.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “I will make all her cattle vanish from beside abundant waters.”

And no foot of man shall trouble them any more, nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them: Since all the people and animals of Egypt will die, none of the watering places will have people walking through them or animals stamping about in them, so they will not be muddied (compare verse 2). Foot of man and hoofs of beasts refer to those parts of the body that are in the water, but the expressions really refer to the whole person or animal. A model for this sentence is:

• And no person or animal will stir up the water in the watering places with their feet and hoofs and make the water muddy.

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 .