And you, O son of man, behold …: And you, which renders the Hebrew text literally, may be expressed as “For your part” or “As for you” (New Revised Standard Version, New Century Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). This phrase gives some emphasis to God’s message, but it is not entirely natural since he is already speaking to Ezekiel, so some translations omit it (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). For son of man (International Children’s Bible “human being”), see 2.1. Contemporary English Version omits this phrase for the sake of naturalness, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch places it at the beginning of God’s speech in verse 24. The Hebrew word hinneh rendered behold adds emphasis at the beginning of this important statement for Ezekiel. God is about to tell him that he will be tied up with ropes and be unable to talk. Many versions omit hinneh here (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). In English it may be translated somewhat colloquially as “look” or “listen.” However, there is already some emphasis at the beginning of this verse with And you. Translators will have to decide how to indicate such emphasis most naturally in their languages. One way is to begin this verse with “Here is what is going to happen to you, you mere mortal.”

Cords will be placed upon you, and you shall be bound with them is literally “they have put ropes on you, and they have bound you with them.” The Hebrew uses a past tense (so New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), but it is probably a prophetic past tense that refers to something that is certain to happen very soon. So future tense may be used here (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation). The Hebrew word for cords may refer to twisted vine tendrils. It may be rendered “ropes” (Good News Translation, New International Version). The two clauses of this sentence really mean the same thing, so it is acceptable to combine them in translation; for example, Good News Translation says “You will be tied with ropes,” and Contemporary English Version has simply “You will be tied up.” However, it is never stated who would tie up Ezekiel. The subject could be God, but this is unlikely, because God is the speaker and the pronoun “they” is used here as the subject. So we should probably understand that the Israelites would do this to Ezekiel. But it is not clear whether this action should be taken literally (that is, the people actually tied Ezekiel up with ropes), or whether it is metaphorical (that is, they hated Ezekiel so much that he couldn’t walk about among them any more). We are never told that the people actually tied up Ezekiel, so it is probably best to understand it metaphorically. The early Aramaic translation, the Targum, clearly understood it metaphorically by saying “I impose my word upon you, as restraining as prisoners’ chains.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch provides a good model here by using a simile: “you will be fastened as if with ropes.” However, in languages that do not have a passive voice or use the passive in this way, translators will either have to supply an agent or use an impersonal construction. Examples are “they will tie you up with ropes” and “they will confine you as if you were tied with ropes.” But translators should not make God the agent.

So that you cannot go out among the people is literally “and you will not go out among them.” The Hebrew waw conjunction can mean “and” or “so that” in this context. Most translations understand it as introducing either a purpose (so Revised Standard Version and New Century Version with “so that”) or a result (so Good News Translation and International Children’s Bible with “and”). A model that clearly expresses this clause as a result is “As a result you will not be able to go out among the people.” It is also possible that this connector simply introduces an additional statement (so King James Version and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh with “and”). According to Brownlee, this clause is a command from God to Ezekiel, which he renders “go not out among them.” Any of these interpretations is acceptable.

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 .