Cut sharply to right and left where your edge is directed: God addresses the sword here, which Good News Translation makes clear by adding “you sharp sword.” This verse begins with a Hebrew word whose meaning is unclear. Cut sharply (similarly Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible) is a guess that involves changing the Hebrew text, but it fits with the idea of the sharp sword earlier in the chapter (see verses 9-10). Masoretic Text has a Hebrew word that seems to be related to the word for “one” with the sense of gathering together to act as one (compare New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, which says “Be united”). This sense is probably behind Hebrew Old Testament Text Project‘s suggested rendering “join [in an attack].” However, a better suggestion is that the Hebrew letters for “d” and “r” have been confused again by some scribes (compare 6.14), so the text should begin with a word that means “go behind oneself” (compare Moffatt “Whirl to the rear” and Jerusalem Bible “Behind!”). Some Hebrew manuscripts actually have this word and it fits well in the verse, giving the sense of the sword striking to the back, the front, the right and the left, that is, all around. To right and left renders two Hebrew verbs that mean “turn to the right” and “turn to the left.” Between these two words is another Hebrew verb that means “put” (Hebrew Old Testament Text Project) or “set” (New American Standard Bible), which strengthens the following verb that means “turn to the left.” New King James Version renders this verb as “Set your blade!” Most translations do not translate it explicitly. Where your edge is directed is literally “where your face is set” (similarly King James Version). Most translations take “your face” as the “blade” (Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible), “edge” (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, New King James Version , New American Standard Bible, New American Bible, Moffatt) or “point” (Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant) of the sword, but it is better to understand it as a direction, so this clause may be rendered “where your face is pointing” (compare Jerusalem Bible, which has “In front!”).

A model for this verse is:

• You sword, strike behind you, then to the right, then to the left, then to the front—in the direction you are facing!

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 .