For Son of man, see Ezek 11.2.

Your brethren, even your brethren, your fellow exiles, the whole house of Israel, all of them …: Your brethren may refer to Ezekiel’s personal family or close relatives, but more likely it refers to his fellow Israelites. Your fellow exiles is a reading that follows the Septuagint and is based on a minor change to the Hebrew text. Many translations follow this reading (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, New American Standard Bible, New American Bible, Bible en français courant). The original Hebrew reads literally “your men of redemption,” that is, those family members for whom one is responsible, or, in Melanesian terms, “your wantoks.” An equal number of translations follow the Hebrew text (so New International Version, King James Version / New King James Version, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). It is the harder reading, it is supported by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, and it should be followed. The whole house of Israel, all of them is an extremely strong statement that includes the whole of the nation of Israel, that is, all those from both the northern and the southern kingdoms who had gone into exile (see Ezek 11.5). The end of the verse makes it clear that this phrase refers to those who were in exile.

The repetition of your brethren looks unnecessary and clumsy, and many Hebrew manuscripts and translations have deleted the second occurrence (so New Living Translation, Revised English Bible). But New International Version has taken the second instance together with the words that come after it as explaining the full significance of the first use of the phrase, saying “your brothers—your brothers who are your blood relatives and the whole house of Israel.” Apart from the non-inclusive language (“brothers”), this is a good model for this rather difficult passage. A better model is “your relatives—those who are your blood relatives and all the other Israelites.”

Are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said: Those who were still living in Jerusalem spoke about Ezekiel’s “relatives,” that is, the Israelites who had gone into exile.

They have gone far from the LORD: This claim by the people in Jerusalem means not only that the exiles were now living at a great distance from Jerusalem, but also that they were a long way from the favor of God.

To us this land is given for a possession: The people in Jerusalem assumed that God had taken the land away from the exiles to punish them and had given it to those who remained as a reward. From this they drew the conclusion that they were still in God’s favor. This conclusion depends on the theological belief that Jerusalem was the center of Jewish worship and the place where God lived, and that God did not protect, or God was displeased with, anyone who lived far away. This was the case especially with those who used to live in Jerusalem and who had been taken away to a foreign land as prisoners of war. It was a very selfish conclusion that only benefited those still in Jerusalem. Contemporary English Version uses indirect discourse here, saying “They also claim that the land of Israel now belongs only to them.”

Here are two models for this rather difficult verse:

• “Mortal man, your relatives, that is, the people you are responsible for, and also the whole nation of Israel, they all are the ones that the people living in Jerusalem are talking about. They are saying, ‘All those are far away from Yahweh, so now this land belongs to us.’

• “Mortal man, the people living in Jerusalem are talking about you and your relatives. They are saying that the people you are responsible for and the whole nation of Israel are far away from Yahweh, and as a result the land now belongs to them [that is, the people living in Jerusalem].

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 .