And when the wall falls: In Hebrew this clause is literally “And behold the wall falls” (similarly King James Version). The Hebrew word for “behold” is hinneh. Here this word heightens the dramatic impact of the narrative. Most translations ignore it, but New Jerusalem Bible captures its dramatic effect by rendering this clause as “and down will come the wall!” If possible, some way should be found to retain the dramatic force of this word. One possible way is “Then watch. When the wall falls down.”

Will it not be said to you…?: This is a rhetorical question expecting a positive answer, which many languages will have to restructure as a statement (so Good News Translation). A model that does this is “Then people will say to you.” The pronoun for you is plural in Hebrew, referring to the false prophets. God addresses them here, but Contemporary English Version renders this pronoun as “the workers” to avoid confusion due to the changing pronouns. It is better to say “you prophets.” Some languages will have to render the passive verb be said as an active one with an agent. The agent could be a general word, for example, “everyone” (Good News Translation), “people” (New International Version, New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible), or “someone.” However, it is also possible that God is the implied agent.

Where is the daubing with which you daubed it?: This question focuses on the uselessness of painting the whitewash on the wall. The wall itself was weak, and the thin covering of whitewash did not make it any stronger. There are two ways in which the question can be understood. It can be a subtle accusation that the false prophets have not done their job properly—the comfort and strength they gave to the people have turned out to be useless. This interpretation is most appropriate if God is the one who asks the question. Models that do this are “Then I will ask you prophets, ‘What happened to the whitewash [or, plaster] you put on the wall?’ ” and “Then I will say to you, ‘Look what happened to the whitewash you put on the wall!’ ” Alternatively, this question can be a sarcastic comment poking fun at the false prophets; for example, Contemporary English Version has “People will then ask the workers why the paint didn’t hold it up,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “won’t they make fun of you, saying, ‘Where’s that nice coat of paint now?’ ” This latter interpretation is more likely.

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 .