complete verse (Ezekiel 3:24)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 3:24:

  • Kupsabiny: “But/and the Spirit came to me and made me stand up and said to me, ‘Go and close/lock yourself in your house.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then I was-empowered by the Spirit and was-caused-to-stand, and was-told, ‘You (sing.) go-home and locked-up [-yourself] in your (sing.) house!” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then the Spiritof God entered me and enabled me to stand up. He said to me, ‘Go into your house and stay inside it.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Honorary "rare" construct denoting God (“speak to”)

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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, katarikake-rare-ru (語りかけられる) or “speak to” is used.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 3:24

But the Spirit entered into me: Although many translations understand the Spirit to be the Holy Spirit, it is better to take it as “a spirit” from God (not an ancestral or evil spirit) or “power” from God (see the comments on 2.2). New English Bible understands it in the first sense by rendering this clause as “Then a spirit came into me.” A model that follows the second sense is “But God’s power took control of me.”

And set me upon my feet, that is, God’s power raised Ezekiel from his prostrate position and caused him to stand up. See the comments on 2.2.

And he spoke with me and said to me: The pronoun he refers to God, not the spirit. Most languages will need to make this clear by rendering this sentence as “Then God [or, Yahweh] spoke with me and said.” Some languages may prefer to use only one verb of speech here for naturalness; for example, Good News Translation says simply “The LORD said to me.”

Go, shut yourself within your house: God told Ezekiel to go stay in his house and not go outside. This sentence may be translated “Go to your house. Go inside and shut [or, lock] the door.” Contemporary English Version has “Go back and lock yourself in your house!”

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 .