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Ezekiel 39:2[NIV] I will turn you around and drag you along. I will bring you from the far north and send you against the mountains of Israel.

Ezekiel 39:2[KJV] And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:

Ezekiel 39:2[Portuguese] E te farei voltear, e te porei seis anzóis, e te farei subir das bandas do Norte, e te trarei aos montes de Israel.

Both Portuguese and Spanish translations leave out "And leave but a sixth part of thee," from Ezekiel 39:2. In the King James we find that phrase. Did the King James translators get it right?

Yeddu
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Dennis
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1 Answers1

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The operative verb in Eze 39:2 is שָׁשָׁא which means "probably to lead on" (Strong's). It is the only place it occurs in the OT. Strong goes further and suggests about this word:

A primitive root; apparently, to annihilate -- leave by the sixth part (by confusion with shashah).

[On the latter word see Eze 45:13.]

The KJV is alone in translating שָׁשָׁא in Eze 39:2 as "sixth part" - the NKJV has corrected this. All other versions that I found have something like the ESV with:

And I will turn you about and drive you forward, and bring you up from the uttermost parts of the north, and lead you against the mountains of Israel.

Dottard
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