complete verse (Ezekiel 34:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 34:21:

  • Kupsabiny: “You have used your horns to hit the weak ones until you defeated (them) moving (them) away from the flock.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “For you who are fat, you just push and toss/butt the ones-who are weak until they will-go-away.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Youwho are like strong sheep, it is as though with your shoulders and buttocks you have shoved away those who are like thin sheep, and you have butted them with your horns, until you have chased them all away from the good pastureland.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

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

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 34:21

Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns …: The conjunction Because introduces the reason why God will act to defend the weak sheep. It is because the strong sheep are mistreating them. You push with side and shoulder pictures the strong sheep pushing, shoving, and jostling with the weaker sheep to get the best positions to eat and drink. If the sense of jostling for position comes through in translation, it is not necessary to specify the particular parts of the body they use, that is, the side and the shoulder (so Good News Translation). Thrust … with your horns involves aggressive butting, using their horns to make space for themselves. All the weak (see Ezek 34.4) are the sheep suffering from the aggressive, selfish behavior of the strong ones. Many languages will need to make clear who the strong sheep are pushing and butting, as in “You push aside the sheep weaker than you and butt them [or, hit them with your horns].”

Till you have scattered them abroad is literally “until you have scattered them to the outside.” Because of the pushing and butting of the strong sheep, the weak ones are chased away. This clause also reminds the reader of the way God’s people were scattered everywhere in the exile.

In many languages the conjunction Because will not normally start a sentence. If so, translators may render this verse as follows:

• You push aside the weaker sheep and butt them to make them move away. For that reason 20….

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 .