He heard the sound of the trumpet, and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself: This first half of the verse summarizes the ideas of the previous verse, but without conditional clauses. It simply states that those who ignored the warning sound of the horn “are to blame for their own deaths” (New Century Version). His blood shall be upon himself may be rendered “His death is his own fault” (Good News Translation; similarly Contemporary English Version, New International Reader’s Version).

But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life: This second half of the verse gives the alternative to the first half. If they had listened to the warning and not ignored it, they would not have died. In short, God says that those who take notice of the warning will not be killed in the war. Thus they control their own fate, and that is why it is their own fault if they die.

Although Revised Standard Version uses the masculine pronouns he and his throughout this subunit, the Hebrew text does not refer specifically to a male. To avoid using gender-specific pronouns, many English translations use plural pronouns instead of singular ones here (so Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version), and translators in other languages should try to avoid gender-specific expressions if they can. A model that does it for this verse is:

• They heard the warning but ignored it. They are responsible for their own deaths. But if they had paid attention to the warning, they would have saved their lives.

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 .