And the LORD said to him: In verses 4-6 God gives orders, first to the man in the linen clothes and then to the other six men. The LORD renders God’s name “Yahweh.”

Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark upon the foreheads of …: God tells the man wearing linen to go through the whole city of Jerusalem and to mark the foreheads of those who were sad about the disgusting things people were doing in Jerusalem. The mark was actually a taw, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This letter was originally written as an X, so New Jerusalem Bible and Osty render put a mark as “mark a cross.” Translators may use a general expression, such as “make a mark.” Presumably the man was supposed to use the pen and ink that he was carrying to make the marks.

The men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it refers to all the people in Jerusalem who were distressed by all the disgusting things being done there. The men refers to men and women (see Ezek 9.6), so most translations say “the people” (New Century Version), “everyone” (Good News Translation), “anyone” (Contemporary English Version) or “all” (New Living Translation) to include both sexes. The Hebrew words for sigh and groan are ʾanach and ʾanaq. They form a play on words here since they both sound a little like the moaning of someone who is grief stricken or in pain. Translators may express the sounds here by saying “moan and groan” or “weep and wail,” or they may express what these sounds signify, for example, “distressed and troubled” (Good News Translation) or “upset and sad” (Contemporary English Version). For abominations see 5.9.

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 .