And I shall be profaned through you in the sight of the nations means the scattering of the people of Jerusalem throughout the world will bring dishonor to God (compare 36.20). This rendering requires a slight change to the Hebrew text, which is also done by New Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. Most other translations do not change the Hebrew text, which reads “and you will be profaned through you in the sight of the nations.” According to this reading, the exile of the people will bring dishonor to Jerusalem, not to God; for example, Good News Translation says “And so the other nations will dishonor you” (similarly Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Century Version, New King James Version , New American Standard Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Moffatt, Bible en français courant). This dishonor will be the final step of the punishment that God will bring on the city and its people. Although Hebrew Old Testament Text Project prefers the reading in Revised Standard Version, it is probably better to follow Good News Translation here, which is closer to the Hebrew. Through you shows that the dishonor was due to the sins of Jerusalem’s people. In this verse the Hebrew pronouns for you are still singular, referring primarily to the city of Jerusalem.
And you shall know that I am the LORD: Only after God has punished the people will they remember and acknowledge him again. The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered and marks a contrast between the dishonor that the people or the city will suffer and the fact that then they will recognize Yahweh. So “but” (Good News Translation) is a better connector to use here.
A good model for this verse is:
• The other nations will dishonor you because of what your people have done. But you will recognize that I am Yahweh.”
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 .