Thus says the Lord GOD: Lord renders the Hebrew word ʾadonai, and GOD renders “Yahweh” (YHWH in Hebrew), the name of God. This clause is actually part of the message God gave to Ezekiel to pass on to the people (so Revised Standard Version), not a separate introduction as in Good News Translation. However, there is very little difference in meaning between Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation here.

Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!: The Hebrew interjection rendered Woe to (hoy) does not express a wish that evil will come upon the false prophets, but it is an assertion that it will certainly come. It is better rendered “Disaster is in store for” (New Jerusalem Bible), “Destruction is certain for” (New Living Translation [1996]), “How terrible it will be for” (New Century Version), or “are doomed” (Good News Translation). The Hebrew term for foolish does not simply mean silly, stupid, or lacking intelligence. Rather, a foolish person is one who is spiritually and morally insensitive, degenerate, deluded, and often guilty of blasphemy and unbelief. Only a few translations reflect this understanding, for example, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh (“degenerate”), New English Bible (“wicked folly”), Revised English Bible (“bent on wickedness”), and the New International Version footnote (“wicked”). The foolish prophets may be rendered “those immoral [or, wicked] people who claim to speak for God.” Who follow their own spirit explains why these prophets were wicked: they followed their own ideas (so New Century Version). The Hebrew word for spirit is parallel with the term for “minds” in the previous verse (see the comments there). Good News Translation renders this clause as “They provide their own inspiration,” and Contemporary English Version has “they make up their own messages.” The false prophets have seen nothing means they did not receive visions from God even though they claimed to be speaking on behalf of him. So they had no authority to speak on his behalf. New Century Version provides a good model here, saying “have not seen a vision from me.”

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 .