inherit land

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “inherit land” in various forms in English is translated in Kwere as “take land to be their own” or similar in these verses when Israel or a part of Israel “inherits” land from God. In Kwere, uhazi or “inheritance,” as in possessions etc. can only be received upon someone’s death. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

complete verse (Ezekiel 47:14)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 47:14:

  • Kupsabiny: “But all the other fields/lands must be of equal size, because I swore that I would give (it) to your descendants.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “You should divide the land equally, for I had-sworn to your ancestors that I will-give it to them and you will-inherit-[it].” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I lifted up my arm and solemnly declared to your ancestors that I would give you this land to own permanently. So divide the land equally among all of the other tribes.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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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.

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

See also pronoun for “God”.

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 47:14

You shall divide it equally means each tribe should get an equal share of land. The Hebrew pronouns for you and your are plural, referring again to the people of Israel or their leaders.

I swore to give it to your fathers: God promised to give the land to the people’s ancestors. The Hebrew expression for I swore (literally “I lifted my hand” [similarly King James Version]) does not imply that God used bad language (see the comments on 20.5).

And this land shall fall to you as your inheritance means the land will belong to them as their family possession. The Hebrew uses the term fall as if the process of dividing the land was to be done by lot (compare Revised English Bible “it must be assigned to you by lot as your holding”), even though God makes the allocation directly in chapter 48. Many English translations do not make the reference to the “lot” explicit, but instead they use the English idiom “fall to someone” (which means that something will come into someone’s possession, often by chance) to reflect the Hebrew idiom. Other languages may have their own ways of describing this process of something coming into someone’s possession. If not, New Century Version provides a helpful model here, saying “this land will belong to you as family property” (similarly New International Reader’s Version).

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 .