7But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me, because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.
The Hebrew and Greek that is typically translated in English as “hardened” or “stubborn” is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible idiomatically as taurin kai or “tough head.”
Other languages spoken in Nigeria translate similarly: Abua uses oḅom ẹmhu or “strong head,” Bura-Pabirkəra ɓəɓal or “hard head,” Gokanaagẹ̀ togó or “hard/strong head,” Igedeegbeju-ọngịrị or “hard head,” Deragɨddɨng koi or “strong head,” Resheɾiʃitə ɾigbaŋgba or “strong head,” and in Chadian Arabicraas gawi (رَاسْكُو قَوِي) or “hard head” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
Other translation approaches include Western Bukidnon Manobo with “breath is very hard” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation) or Ixil with “callous heart” (source: Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 40).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 3:7:
Kupsabiny: “But there is not even one person of Israel who wants to hear (the) words. (They) do not even want to hear words from me. These people are people who have dried heads (are stubborn) and rebellious.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “But the people of Israel will- not -listen to you (sing.), for they do- not -want to-listen to me. All of them are hard-headed and stubborn.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “But the Israeli people do not want to listen to you because they do not want to listen to me. They do not want to listen because they are all very stubborn.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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.
But the house of Israel will not listen to you: As before, the house of Israel means “the Israelites” (see Ezek 3.1). Will not listen to you is literally “will not be willing to listen to you.” This phrase may be rendered “will refuse to pay attention to you and obey you.”
For they are not willing to listen to me: See the comments on the previous clause.
Because all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and of a stubborn heart: All the house of Israel may be rendered “all the Israelites.” The Hebrew phrases rendered a hard forehead and a stubborn heart have almost the same meaning as those translated “impudent” and “stubborn” in 2.4 (see the comments there). Some of the expressions used by English versions here are “stubborn” (Good News Translation), “brazen” (Revised English Bible), “defiant” (Good News Translation), “obstinate” (New Jerusalem Bible), and “hardheaded” (Contemporary English Version). It is better to choose appropriate words or idioms from the receptor language than to try to render the Hebrew idioms literally. Any words chosen should have a bad sense, but they must be capable of having a good, or at least a neutral sense, as well (see Ezek 3.8). In Hebrew culture the heart was the organ with which a person thought and made decisions; it was not just the center of emotions as it is in modern Western cultures. That is the reason for Contemporary English Version‘s rendering “hardheaded,” even though sometimes this word can have a good sense.
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 .
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