And you, O son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel: The inclusion of And you adds some emphasis to God’s address to Ezekiel, but most translations do not bother to reflect it (so Good News Translation, New Century Version). However, Bible en français courant expresses it by beginning with “As for you.” For son of man, International Children’s Bible says “Human being.” The Hebrew sentence here lacks a verb—it does not say what Ezekiel should do or say. The Septuagint and the ancient Syriac version include the word “say” as an instruction to Ezekiel on what he should do (so also New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Parole de Vie, on the other hand, assumes that God is telling Ezekiel to “listen” to what he says. Most translations will need to insert some verb like this to make sense of the sentence, even though it is not explicit in the Hebrew text. Translators may use any appropriate term that makes sense of the passage. The prophetic formula thus says the Lord GOD gives weight to the following words of God’s judgment on the land of Israel. Lord renders the Hebrew word ʾadonai, and GOD renders “Yahweh” (YHWH in Hebrew), the name of God. For any language in which it is difficult for God to speak of himself in the third person, the first person may be used; for example, Parole de Vie renders this clause as “You who are a man, listen to what I, the LORD God, announce to the people of Israel” (similarly Good News Translation, Bible en français courant). Another possible model is “You, mortal man, this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say to the land of Israel.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh keeps the third person for God in English in a natural way by saying “You, O mortal, [say:] Thus said the Lord GOD to the land of Israel.”

God continues to address the land of Israel, as in the previous chapter. Even if it sounds strange in some languages for God to speak to the land, it is best to retain this focus, if at all possible. If it is not possible, translators may say “the inhabitants of the land of Israel” (Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or simply “the people of Israel” (Contemporary English Version, Parole de Vie).

An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land: The repetition of the word end highlights the vivid and forceful message that God gave to Ezekiel for Israel. Preachers use this technique often to command attention or to drive home a point. If translators leave out this repetition (so Good News Translation), they reduce the force of Ezekiel’s message. But the emphasis may be kept without repeating the word end; for example, New Jerusalem Bible has “Finished! The end is coming for the four corners of the country,” and Bible en français courant says “This is the end, the final disaster is spreading out [or, extending] to the four corners of the land.” The end has come is not just a statement of time; it refers to a catastrophe in which everything is destroyed. The seriousness of the message is captured in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, which says “Doom! Doom is coming….” Some languages may need to follow this model, if they are not able to capture the sense of judgment in their word for end. Contemporary English Version renders has come as “will soon come,” and New Jerusalem Bible has “is coming.” It is difficult to decide for certain the tense of the Hebrew verb here, but the meaning is clear—the end is very close, so close that Ezekiel can say that it has already arrived. The four corners of the land refers to the whole land of Israel. Most languages will have their own idiomatic ways of referring to a whole country, and these should be used here; for example, some languages say “the farthest parts of the country” or “all the borders of the country.” Or it may be necessary to restructure the whole clause by saying “The country will be destroyed right to its farthest parts” or “I will put an end to every part of the land.”

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 .