And he said to me: God speaks to Ezekiel again, telling him to swallow the scroll.

For Son of man, see 2.1.

Eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it: The Hebrew is very vivid here. It reads literally “cause you stomach to eat and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving you.” It points to Ezekiel, whether literally or in the vision, eating and digesting the message of God for the Israelites. The message must become part of Ezekiel. Translators have rendered these two clauses in various ways; for example, Bible en français courant has “fill your stomach and nourish your body with this scroll that I give you,” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll that I give you.” Another possible model is “eat this scroll that I give you and fill yourself completely with it.”

Then I ate it: The connector Then may be rendered “So” (Contemporary English Version, New Jerusalem Bible) or “As a result.”

And it was in my mouth as sweet as honey: Compare Rev 10.9-10. Since the scroll contained lamentations and cries of grief, it could be expected to taste unpleasant. But when Ezekiel ate the scroll, he found that “it was sweet like honey” (International Children’s Bible). Many commentators believe this means that Ezekiel agreed with the judgments God was making on the people. That may be true, but for translation purposes this clause should be treated literally, not metaphorically. Good News Translation says “it tasted as sweet as honey,” which is more natural English. Honey is the sweet liquid produced by bees. Some cultures call it “bee excretion” or “bee water.” In cultures where bees are unknown, honey may be rendered “sweet juice/water from the insect called bee,” or a local alternative may be used, such as “sugar cane.” Or this whole clause may be translated simply “and it was very sweet.”

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 .