The people also are impudent and stubborn: Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation take The people to be the same Israelites mentioned in the previous verse. But the Hebrew reads literally “the sons,” which probably should be understood in contrast to “their fathers” in verse 3. Thus the focus narrows here to Ezekiel’s own generation. New English Bible and Revised English Bible say “this generation.” If this idea is difficult to render in a language, translators may say “these people today.”

Impudent and stubborn is literally “stiff of face and hard of heart.” The two Hebrew expressions here mean almost the same thing. The first Hebrew expression is unusual; the more usual one is literally “stiff of neck, stiff necked” (see Exo 32.9; Deut 9.6). It carries the meaning of defiant and stubborn, unwilling to listen (compare Isa 48.4). The second expression (“hard of heart”) is similar to one used many times in Exodus about Pharaoh (see, for example, Exo 7.13). It carries the meaning of stubborn and obstinate, unwilling to listen and obey. The first expression may apply to the external aspects of stubbornness, the second one to the internal aspects. Some languages have idioms for one or both of these expressions, for example, “closed ears” and “hard heads.” But if translators are not able to find two common expressions or idioms in their language for them, they may say “defiant and stubborn.”

I send you to them: See 2.3.

And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD’: This expression usually introduces the actual words or message of God, but here the content of the message, that is, what God actually says to the people, is not explicit. This lack is clearly visible in some versions; for example, New Jerusalem Bible says “Lord Yahweh says this” (similarly Jerusalem Bible), New English Bible and Revised English Bible have “These are the words of the Lord GOD,” and New Century Version uses “This is what the Lord GOD says.” Good News Translation tries to smooth over the difficulty by rendering the last half of this verse as “so I am sending you to tell them what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying to them.” It is best to understand this expression as a general authorization of Ezekiel’s whole prophecy. God is telling Ezekiel that every time he speaks to the people, he will be speaking on God’s behalf. Both Ezekiel and the people needed to know that. For those languages that would otherwise need to specify what God said, this expression may be translated a little more generally as “The Lord GOD is giving you a message.” To make the sense absolutely clear, translators may render the last two clauses of this verse as “You will give them messages from me, the Lord GOD.”

Lord renders the Hebrew word ʾadonai, and GOD renders “Yahweh” (YHWH in Hebrew), the name of God.

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 .