cubit

The Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek that is translated as “cubit” or into a metric or imperial measurement in English is translated in Kutu, Kwere, and Nyamwezi as makono or “armlength.” Since a cubit is the measurement from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, one armlength (measured from the center of the chest to the fingertips) equals two cubits or roughly 1 meter. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

Similarly, in Akoose, the translation is “arm distance.” (Source: Joseph Nkwelle Ngome and Marlie van Rooyen & Jacobus A. Naudé in Communicatio 2009, p. 251ff.)

In Klao it is converted into “hand spans” (app. 6 inches or 12 cm) and “finger spans” (app. 1 inch or 2 cm) (source: Don Slager) and in Bariai into leoa or “fathom,” which comprises the distance from a person’s fingertip to fingertip with arms outstretched, app. 6 feet (source: Bariai Back Translation).

complete verse (Ezekiel 40:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 40:19:

  • Kupsabiny: “After that he measured the courtyard from the outer gate until he came to touch the inner gate. He found it to be one hundred and seventy-five feet.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Then the man measured the distance from the way/path which went-inside the outer courtyard up to the way/path which went-towards the inner courtyard, and 170 feet was its distance.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Then the man measured the distance across the outer courtyard of the temple, between the inner entrance of the entryway and the wall surrounding the inner courtyard: It was 175 feet/53 meters on the east side and on the north side of the courtyard.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Ezekiel 40:19

Then he measured the distance from the inner front of the lower gate to the outer front of the inner court, a hundred cubits: The next thing that the man measured was the distance between the inner front of the lower gate, that is, the inside end the outer courtyard’s east gatehouse, and the outer front of the inner court, that is, the outside end of the inner courtyard’s east gatehouse. This is the first time Ezekiel mentions the inner court, so some translators may need to note the presence of the inner courtyard before describing how far it was from the outer gatehouse; for example, Contemporary English Version begins this verse with “I saw the gates that led to the inner courtyard of the temple and noticed that they were higher than those leading to the outer courtyard. The man measured the distance between the outer and inner gates.” The outer east gatehouse is described as the lower gate, because it was on the same level as the walkway, and so was eight steps lower than the inner courtyard (see the previous verse). Translators may call it the “the outer [east] gate,” but if they want to retain the idea of lower, they may have to include some reference to the two gatehouses being on different levels (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). The distance between the two gatehouses was a hundred cubits, that is, 50 meters (168 feet).

Then he went before me to the north: The Hebrew here is literally “the east and the north,” which Revised Standard Version tries to make sense of by following the Septuagint (so also Revised English Bible, New American Bible). Some translations simply omit the Hebrew words here (so New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, Christian Community Bible). Others take them closely with the hundred cubits as referring to the distance in both directions; for example, King James Version says “a hundred cubits eastward and northward” (similarly New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version, New King James Version , New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, Complete Jewish Bible, Moffatt). Although this may be possible, the reference to the north comes before any mention of the north gate of the outer courtyard, and it seems to imply that the north gate is 50 meters (168 feet) from the east gate of the inner courtyard, which is clearly not the case. A better solution is to see the words in Hebrew as Ezekiel’s shorthand way of changing the focus of attention from the eastern side of the Temple compound to the northern side. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh keeps the shorthand effect of the Hebrew by saying “After the east [gate], the north [gate],” and so does Block with “So far the eastern [gate]; now to the northern [gate].” Even these renderings need to include extra words to make sense of the text. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “After the east side was measured, we went to the north side,” which is much easier to understand. Translators may expand this shorthand way of speaking in whatever way is natural in their own language.

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 .