And I will direct my indignation against you, that they may deal with you in fury: This sentence repeats the same idea as the one at the end of the previous verse—God will punish Oholibah by handing her over to her enemies to punish however they please. The Hebrew clause rendered I will direct my indignation against you is a strong way of saying God is angry with her. The Hebrew word for indignation is actually the one that is often rendered “jealousy” (King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New Jerusalem Bible; similarly New International Version, New Living Translation, Revised English Bible). Although the context of this passage is sexual unfaithfulness, the term “jealousy” has such a bad sense that it is best not to use it for God. It is better to use a word that expresses a very strong emotion such as “anger” (New Century Version; for more discussion on how to translate this word, see the comments on 5.13). They may deal with you in fury means they will do things to you in anger. Fury is another word for “anger” (Good News Translation, New Century Version). New Century Version provides a good model for this sentence, saying “Then you will see how strong my anger can be when they punish you in their anger.”
What follows next is a list of some of the cruel things that the Assyrians and Babylonians did to the people of Judah they captured. God describes how these things will be done to Oholibah.
They shall cut off your nose and your ears: This was probably done with a sword.
And your survivors shall fall by the sword: In the context of the parable your survivors means “your children” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), and shall fall by the sword means they will be killed (see 5.12). If translators cannot use a passive verb here, they may say “and they will kill your children with their swords.”
They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire: According to Good News Translation, this sentence is an emphatic repetition of how Oholibah’s children will be killed—they will be taken away from her and burned alive. But other translations take this sentence to refer to the historical situation of Jerusalem, and translate your survivors as “those of you who are left [after the rest have been killed]” (New International Version; similarly Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible). This sentence then means they will take away the surviving children as prisoners and burn them alive. It is best to retain the parable if possible, but either interpretation is acceptable, because the book of Ezekiel often mixes historical details with parables. Translators may follow Good News Translation as a model for the first interpretation. A possible model for the second one is “They will capture your surviving sons and daughters and burn them alive.”
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 .