How lovesick is your heart renders the first three words of this verse. Their meaning is unclear, so Good News Translation omits them. Revised Standard Version and most other translations keep them, but the meanings they give them vary widely. These meanings fall into four groups as follows:

(1) “How weak-willed you are” (New International Version; similarly New Century Version, King James Version, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant), which means the girl is unable to control herself and her emotions;
(2) “How wild is your lust!” (New American Bible; similarly Contemporary English Version, New King James Version ), which focuses on the strength of the girl’s immoral sexual desires;
(3) “How sick is your heart” (New Revised Standard Version; similarly Revised Standard Version, New Living Translation, New American Standard Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Moffatt, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), which suggests that she is sick with a fever of some kind and this causes her to act in the way that she does;
(4) “How angry you make me!” (similarly Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh footnote), which is God’s reaction to the way the girl (Jerusalem) repeatedly sinned against him (compare verse 23).

Although Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends option 3, it is clear from other Semitic languages that option 4 is the correct interpretation. In some languages translators can express this option naturally as “You make me extremely angry.”

Says the Lord GOD reinforces the statement of God’s anger at his sinful people (see the comments on Ezek 16.8). In many languages it will be better to place this clause at the beginning of the verse, as Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version have done.

Seeing you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot gives the reason for God’s anger. Seeing may be rendered “because” (English Standard Version) or “when” (New International Version). The deeds of a brazen harlot summarizes what the girl did. A brazen harlot is a “a shameless prostitute” (Good News Translation). The Hebrew word for brazen occurs only here in the Old Testament, so its meaning is uncertain. It seems to be connected with Hebrew words that mean “to domineer” or “to be hard and strong,” so some translations render it “headstrong” (Revised English Bible), “stubborn” (New Century Version), “self-willed” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “bold-faced” (New American Standard Bible, Jerusalem Bible), or “imperious” (King James Version, New English Bible). Although we cannot be sure, the Hebrew phrase rendered brazen harlot most likely refers to a woman who lives openly as a prostitute, without any shame and without caring about her reputation and what anyone else thinks of her.

A model for this verse is:

• This is a declaration of the Lord Yahweh, “You make me very angry because of all these things that you have done. You have acted like a prostitute who has no shame and cares nothing about what others think of her.

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 .