gentiles / nations

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).

Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).

In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

See also nations.

complete verse (Ezekiel 32:18)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 32:18:

  • Kupsabiny: “‘Ezekiel, cry over all the many people in Egypt. I am going to throw them down into the world of the dead going/joining with other powerful communities.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Man, you (sing.) mourn for the residents of Egipto and for the residents of other powerful nations. For I will-throw- them -down under the ground together-with those who-had- already -died there.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘You human, wail about the many people of Egypt, because I will send them to the place under the earth, where they and people of other mighty nations will be. I will send them there, along with others, down to the place where the dead are.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 32:18

For Son of man, see Ezek 32.2.

Wail over the multitude of Egypt: Wail over may be rendered “mourn for” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version), “weep for” (New Living Translation), or “cry for” (New Century Version). For the multitude of Egypt, which refers to “the people of Egypt” (New Century Version) here, see verse 12.

And send them down, her and the daughters of majestic nations, to the nether world, to those who have gone down to the Pit: Send them down is literally “cause it [that is, the nation of Egypt] to go down.” Most translations take her and the daughters of majestic nations as the object of the verb send … down, although this verb already has the pronoun “it” as its object. This grammatical construction is not unusual in Hebrew and it provides fuller information about the object of the verb. The pronoun her clearly refers to Egypt but it is not so clear who the daughters of majestic nations are. Many translations render this phrase literally without explaining its meaning, but some refer to “the women of the powerful/mighty nations” (New Century Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Moffatt) or “The women singers from the other mighty nations” (New International Reader’s Version). It is not clear why the women of the powerful nations are singled out in this context. It is better to take the daughters of majestic nations as figurative language for the people who lived in these nations (compare the comments on “the daughters of the Philistines” at 16.27), so this phrase may be rendered simply “the other powerful nations” (Good News Translation; similarly Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation). The Hebrew word for majestic indicates that these nations were great like Egypt. It may be rendered “mighty” (New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Moffatt) or “powerful” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, New American Standard Bible). For the nether world and the Pit, see the comments on 26.20. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version combine these expressions, saying “the world of the dead.” This whole clause may imply that the Egyptians will go down into the underworld together with other mighty nations (so Good News Translation), or it may imply that they will go down into the underworld to be with other mighty nations that are already there (so Contemporary English Version).

However, a question still remains: why, in a funeral song for Egypt, does God say these other powerful nations will go down into the underworld with Egypt? In order to make better sense of this verse, some translations make a small change to the Hebrew so that the pronoun for her becomes “you” (so Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Moffatt, Block). Then her and the daughters of majestic nations becomes a vocative instead of the object of the verb send … down. A model of the verse that does this is:

• “Mortal man, you and the women of mighty nations, mourn for Egypt and send her down to the underworld.

This model makes very good sense and has the advantage of taking the phrase the daughters of majestic nations as referring to women whose role it was to sing mourning songs (see the comments on verse 16). Although most translations do not follow this reading and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project advises against it, it is a meaningful alternative that translators should consider. Another model that follows this reading is:

• “Mortal man, join the women from all the powerful nations and weep for Egypt and send her down to the place of the dead.

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 .