And lo, you are to them like one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument: Lo renders the dramatic Hebrew particle hinneh. Here it vividly returns the attention to Ezekiel. Most translations omit it, but we advise translators to keep it in languages where such attention-grabbing particles are natural. The beginning of this verse may be rendered “So look, here is how they see you…” or “So here’s the situation on how they see you….” You are to them like one who sings love songs means Ezekiel is like a singer of love songs to the people. The Hebrew word for love is the same one translated “much love” in the previous verse (see the comments there), so love songs is better rendered “bawdy songs” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “lustful songs” (English Standard Version). These erotic songs might be the prophecies in chapters 16 and 23, which are full of sexually-charged words and ideas. They had titillated the audience, who kept coming back, hoping for more of the same. The picture of Ezekiel as someone who sings songs for entertainment continues with a reference to his skill—he has a beautiful voice and he plays well on an instrument, that is, he sings well and plays an instrument skillfully. One model for this whole sentence is “Look, they think of you as someone who sings erotic songs and plays music very well.” There is no evidence that Ezekiel actually sang his prophecies or accompanied them with music, so it is best to understand this as picture language. For the people Ezekiel is no more than an entertainer, a singer on the street corner. This surprising picture reinforces the need for an effective attention-grabbing particle at the beginning of the verse. It alerts the reader to something unusual coming.

As the footnote in Revised Standard Version indicates, the Hebrew actually says that Ezekiel is “like a love song” (Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible; similarly King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Moffatt) rather than like one who sings love songs. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends that translators say “[you are] like a song [a beautiful voice …].” It is strange to refer to a person as a love song, so most translations describe Ezekiel as being like a singer of love songs. This is acceptable where it enables the translation to flow more smoothly.

For they hear what you say, but they will not do it: See the comments on the previous verse. Since the people see Ezekiel simply as an entertainer, they do not obey what he tells them to do. They desire to listen to Ezekiel but refuse to do what he says. This sentence stresses the inappropriate way in which Ezekiel’s audience receives his words.

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 .