inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Ezek 37:11)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding the Lord.

complete verse (Ezekiel 37:11)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 37:11:

  • Kupsabiny: “God said to me, ‘Ezekiel, all these bones is the house of Israel without number. They are saying, ‘Our bones have dried up and we have nothing more to hope for. We have been completely isolated/pushed aside.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “The LORD again said to me, ‘Man, those bones represent the entire people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are now dry, and we no-longer have hope; we are now destroyed.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then he said to me, ‘You human, these bones represent all the Israeli people. The people say, ‘It is as though our bones are dried up; there are no more good things that we can hope for/confidently expect to happen to us; our nation is destroyed/finished.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Honorary "are" construct denoting God (“say”)

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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 are (され) 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, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 37:11

Then he said to me …: In verses 11-14 God explains to Ezekiel the meaning of the vision of the dry bones.

For Son of man, see Ezek 37.3.

These bones are the whole house of Israel means the bones represent the whole nation of Israel. New International Reader’s Version says “these bones stand for all the people of Israel.” If it is more natural in their language, translators may turn this clause around by saying “all the people of Israel are like these bones” (similarly Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). For house of Israel see the comments on 3.1. The word whole shows that God is referring to both the northern and southern kingdoms.

Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off’: God quotes the Israelites. They had become dispirited and were complaining that their nation had been destroyed. For the word Behold, which highlights what they say, see Ezek 37.2. Our bones are dried up means the people feel that the nation is dead like the dry, dead bones. Our hope is lost may be rendered “We’ve lost all hope” (New International Reader’s Version) or “We have no hope left.” We are clean cut off may be translated “We are destroyed” (New Century Version) or “it is the end of us” (Christian Community Bible). It is acceptable to rearrange the order of these clauses of the people’s complaint to make them flow more naturally in the translator’s own language. A model that does this is:

• We are as dry as those dead bones. Our nation has been completely destroyed. We have lost all hope for the future.

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 .