The author tests a number of different bible translations and their starting points against two questions: 1) how is the metaphorical speaking of the bible put across and 2) are the different genres in the bible respected? The results are different. The metaphorics in Ezechiël 16 seem to have been well maintained in the translations. Translators seem to deal very thoughtfully with the metaphors in the bible. Concerning genre awareness, the author concludes that the older and colometrical translations have little concern of this, and that the modern translations have partly, but not completely, incorporated the latest views on this issue. Genre classifications are not imparted through language material, and require a lot of careful interpretative work.