Warriors clothed in purple: The traditional rendering of the Hebrew word for warriors is “neighbors” (King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant), which is not geographically accurate. It is better to take it as a borrowed Akkadian word that means “soldiers” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Moffatt) or “officers” (Revised English Bible). It refers to the Assyrians mentioned in the previous verse. Clothed in purple shows that they wore impressive uniforms. It is not clear exactly what color they were, but most likely they were “purple” (Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) or “blue” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, King James Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Cloth with this color was expensive because the dye for it was rare. Where it is difficult to choose an appropriate color term in a language, translators may follow the model of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (1982) by saying “magnificent,” “splendid,” or “dazzling.”

Governors and commanders render Akkadian loanwords referring to the high administrative officials in the provinces of the Assyrian Empire. Other acceptable terms for these words are “high-ranking officials” (Good News Translation), “rulers” (King James Version / New King James Version), and “ambassadors.” Military terms are not appropriate (for example, “captains and lieutenants” in New Century Version).

All of them desirable young men: Desirable means the Assyrian soldiers and officials in Samaria were “handsome” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible). They were “attractive” (New American Bible) to Oholah as sexual partners.

All of Oholah’s Assyrian lovers were horsemen riding on horses (so also New King James Version , New American Standard Bible; similarly King James Version, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). However, it is better to understand the Hebrew here as referring to “charioteers” (men in chariots being pulled along by horses) and “cavalry” (men riding horses). It is acceptable to use one term to refer to both; for example, Good News Translation says “cavalry officers.” Where horses are not known, translators may say “large fast animals” (see 17.15).

Many translations divide this verse wrongly. Good News Translation, for example, says “all of them were handsome young cavalry officers” (similarly New Century Version, Revised English Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). The Hebrew phrase for all of them desirable young men actually goes with the words rendered warriors, governors and commanders, and horsemen riding on horses is added to the end of the verse. A model for this verse is:

• They [the Assyrian lovers] were soldiers wearing magnificent uniforms, rulers, and officials. All of them were young and handsome, and their horses took them into battle.

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 .