I said to them, What is the high place to which you go?: When the Israelites began disobeying God in Canaan, he confronted them with this question. The question implies that the people were doing something wrong. A high place was a pagan shrine in the hills (see 6.3). Although it is singular, it refers to any shrine that the people visited, so it is acceptable to translate it in plural (so Good News Translation with “high places” and Contemporary English Version with “local shrines”). In some languages it may be necessary to include an answer to the question as follows: “I said to them, ‘Why are you going to those high places?’ They answered, ‘To make sacrifices.’ ”

So its name is called Bamah to this day: This clause is a popular explanation of the name Bamah, the Hebrew term for a high place. Here there is a play on words, because Bamah sounds like the Hebrew word for “those who go” (baʾim; see Good News Translation footnote). Most languages will not be able to reflect this wordplay (compare Moffatt, which renders the question as “What is the high place you hie to?”), and it may be necessary to include a footnote to explain it. To this day shows that the people continued to call these shrines Bamah right up to the time of Ezekiel.

Revised Standard Version puts parentheses around the whole verse to suggest that it is an aside, an interruption to the theme of the chapter. In fact, it is only the last clause that is an aside, so the parentheses should only enclose that clause. Here are two models for the verse:

• So I said to them, “What are the worship places where you go?” (So they are called Bamah, which means “worship place,” right up to this day.)

• So I said to them, “Why are you going to those high places?” They answered, “To make sacrifices.” (So they are called Bamah, which means “high place,” right up to this day.)

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 .