You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of foreigners: In this final statement of the coming punishment on the king of Tyre, God says his fate will be to die like an uncircumcised person. Circumcision is the practice of cutting off the foreskin of the penis, and many societies in the ancient world did this. For the Jews it was a sign of membership in the community and belonging to God. To Jews it was an insult to be called uncircumcised, and to die without being circumcised meant to die as an outcast, cut off from community and family. The body would remain unburied, which was the biggest disaster that could fall on a person. Thus God predicts for the king of Tyre a horrible, disgraceful death. Translators will do well to find a local equivalent to describe this sort of death instead of trying to retain the reference to circumcision. Good News Translation does this by rendering the first line of this verse as “You will die like a dog.” Another possible model is “You will die a shameful death.” Foreigners will kill the king (see Ezek 28.7, where the Hebrew word here is translated “strangers”).

For I have spoken, says the Lord GOD: Instead of the normal recognition formula, this prophecy ends by repeating that these were God’s words to stress that it will definitely happen. For the Lord GOD, see Ezek 28.2. Translators may render this whole line as “This will happen for I, the Lord Yahweh, have declared it.”

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 .