6Cut down old men, young men and young women, little children and women, but touch no one who has the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were in front of the house.
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated as “elders” in English is translated in the DanishBibelen 2020 as folkets ledere or “leaders of the people.”
Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators, explains: “The term ‘elder’ turned out to pose a particularly thorny problem. In traditional bibles, you can find elders all of over the place and they never pose a problem for a translator, they are just always elders. But how to find a contemporary term for this semi-official, complex position? This may have been our longest-standing problem. A couple of times we thought we had the solution, and then implemented it throughout the texts, only to find out that it didn’t work. Like when we used city council or village council, depending on the context. In the end we felt that the texts didn’t work with such official terms, and throughout the years in the desert, these terms didn’t make much sense. Other suggestions were ‘the eldest and wisest’, ‘the respected citizens’, ‘the Israelites with a certain position in society’, ‘the elder council’ –- and let me point out that these terms sound better in Danish than in English (‘de fremtrædende borgere,’ ‘de mest fremtrædende israelitter,’ ‘alle israelitter med en vis position,’ ‘de ældste og de klogeste,’ ‘ældsterådet’). In the end we just said ‘leaders of the people.’ After a lot of hand-wringing, it turned out that we actually found a term that worked well. So, we had to give up conveying the fact that they were old, but the most important point is that they were community leaders.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )
The Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022) translates likewise as “leader of the people” (Anführer des Volkes).
The Hebrew, Greek and Latin that is translated as “sanctuary” in English is translated in the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) with opatulika or “separated place.” This is understood in a religious setup as a place designated for worship. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Ezekiel 9:6:
Kupsabiny: “Slaughter elders, young men, young girls, women and children. But do not disturb any person who has a mark. Begin at my House.’ So, (they) began with the elders who were in front of the House of God.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “You (plur.) kill the old-ones, young men and women, mothers, and children, but do- not -harm the ones- who -have the mark. You start/begin at my temple.’ Therefore they first killed the ones-who-rule who are-there before the temple.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Slaughter old men, young men and women, older women and children, but do not harm any of those who have that mark on their forehead. Start at my temple.’ So they began by killing the elders who were worshiping idols in front of the temple.” (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.
Slay old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women: Slay … outright renders a strong expression in Hebrew, which is literally “kill for destruction.” New Century Version and Revised English Bible say “Kill and destroy,” and New Jerusalem Bible has “kill and exterminate.” God commands the total and immediate destruction of all the wicked people in Jerusalem. The six men were to spare no one, not old men, young men in the prime of life, maidens, that is, “young women” (Good News Translation), little children, or women.
But touch no one upon whom is the mark: The executioners were to kill everyone who did not have the mark on their forehead. Only those who had the mark were safe. This clause may be rendered “Don’t harm anyone who has the mark [or, cross] on their forehead.”
And begin at my sanctuary means they were to start the slaughter at the Temple.
So they began with the elders who were before the house: The six men did what God commanded, beginning with the leaders of Judah who were in front of the Temple. The Hebrew text here reads literally “and they began with the men, the elders, who were in front of the house.” Some manuscripts of the Septuagint lack the words “the elders.” Probably this verse originally referred to the twenty-five men worshiping the sun in 8.16, and later the elders of 8.11 were included. Translators may render this clause as “So they began with those men who were in front of the Temple, and with the elders.”
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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