flesh

The Hebrew that is translated as “flesh” in English and in some English versions as “muscles” (including God’s Word, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, NET Bible) is translated in Maan with a word that simultaneously means “flesh” and “muscles,” since “Maan does not have a separate word for muscles.” (Source: Don Slager)

complete verse (Ezekiel 37:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 37:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “Tendons, flesh and skin started to cover those bones slowly while I was watching but (they) had not (yet) gotten breath.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then I saw that they now had veins and flesh and were-wrapped with skin, but they still did not breathe.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “While I was looking, I saw tendons fastening to them and flesh covering them, and then skin covered the flesh, but they did not breathe.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 37:8

And as I looked, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them: And as I looked is literally “And I looked, and behold” (New American Standard Bible). Most translations omit the Hebrew particle for “behold” (see Ezek 37.2). For there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them, see Ezek 37.6. Skin had covered them is literally “skin covered them above” (King James Version), which means skin covered them completely. Some translations understand this sentence to say that Ezekiel watched as the sinews, flesh and skin grew over the bones (so Good News Translation); for example, Revised English Bible says “As I watched, sinews appeared upon them, flesh clothed them, and they were covered with skin,” and New International Reader’s Version has “I saw tendons and flesh appear on them. Skin covered them.” But it is better to say that, when Ezekiel looked, the sinews and flesh were already on the bones, and the bodies had already been covered with skin; for example, New Revised Standard Version says “I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them.”

But there was no breath in them: Although the bodies had been reconstituted into full human bodies, the process was not yet complete because they had no breath in them (see Ezek 37.5), that is, they were not alive yet. Good News Translation says “But there was no breath in the bodies,” and Contemporary English Version has “but they had no life in them.”

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 .