Moreover he said to me is literally “And he said to me.” God finished speaking at the end of verse 9, but he continues speaking immediately in verse 10. The break shows that God’s words in verses 10-11 are especially important. They are a summary of God’s commission to Ezekiel. Translators may render this clause as “Then God also said to me.” However, some translations omit this clause and just have God continuing to speak (so Contemporary English Version).

For Son of man, see 2.1.

All my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears: Since the heart in Hebrew is the organ with which a person thinks and makes decisions, receive in your heart means “receive into your mind” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). This phrase may be rendered “think about” (Contemporary English Version), “remember” (Good News Translation), or “take notice of” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Hear with your ears may be translated “pay close attention” (Good News Translation) or “listen carefully” (Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). In many languages it is more logical to reorder this sentence to have Ezekiel hearing God’s message first, and then taking it to heart (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). One model that does this is “You, mere mortal, pay attention to everything that I will say to you and remember it.”

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 .