And I, the LORD, will be their God signals the restoration of the covenant made at Mount Sinai in which Israel became Yahweh’s people and Yahweh became their God. One way to translate this clause is “I, Yahweh, will be the God they worship.”

And my servant David shall be prince among them: For my servant David, see the previous verse. In this context the Hebrew word for prince means “king” (see 12.10), so it is better rendered “ruler” (Good News Translation, New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Christian Community Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “leader” (Contemporary English Version). Shall be prince among them means the future ruler will be one of the people, not somebody placed over them.

I, the LORD, have spoken: This part of the prophecy ends with this emphatic statement that God himself said it, stressing that it is true (see the comments on 5.15). This clause may be rendered “It is I, Yahweh, who says this.”

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 .