Thus says the Lord GOD: For this prophetic introduction, see Ezek 25.3.
Because the Philistines acted revengefully and took vengeance with malice of heart to destroy in never-ending enmity: The sin of the Philistines was that they hated the Israelites so much that they tried to get even with them and destroy them. For readers who are not familiar with who the Philistines are, translators may say “the Philistine people” or “the people from the country of Philistia.” For acted revengefully and took vengeance, see the comments on verse 12. For with malice of heart (literally “with malice in [their] soul”), see the comments on Ezek 25.6. Here this phrase may be rendered “with a deep hatred” or “hating them with all their heart.” In never-ending enmity describes the “long-standing” (New Living Translation, New Jerusalem Bible), “lasting” (Moffatt), “persistent” (Jerusalem Bible), “unending” (New Revised Standard Version) hostility of the Philistines against the Israelites (compare New International Reader’s Version “They had been Judah’s enemies for many years”). The Philistines and the Israelites were enemies throughout their history. The Hebrew word for enmity means hating people and being their enemies. After with malice of heart the text adds to destroy. One possible way to render these two phrases is “hating them deeply and wanting to destroy them.” However, New Century Version attaches to destroy to the next phrase, in never-ending enmity, which is equally acceptable. For this whole sentence New Century Version has “The Philistines have taken revenge with hateful hearts. Because of their strong hatred, they have tried to destroy Judah.”
A model for verses 15-16a is:
• 15 The Lord Yahweh said, “The people of Philistia took revenge on Judah with a deep hatred. Because of their long-lasting hatred, they tried to destroy Judah. 16 Because of that….
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 .