And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase: The theme of the fertility of the land continues here. For the trees of the field, see 17.24. The trees of the field shall yield their fruit may be rendered “The trees in the fields will bear their fruit” (New International Reader’s Version; similarly Good News Translation). The earth shall yield its increase may be translated “the fields will produce crops” (Good News Translation; similarly New International Reader’s Version), “the land will give its harvest” (New Century Version), or “the soil will yield its produce” (New Jerusalem Bible; similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). These two clauses picture a time when there is enough food for everyone. New Living Translation goes too far by rendering them as “The orchards and fields of my people will yield bumper crops.” A better model is “The trees in the countryside will bear fruit, and the seeds planted in the earth will produce crops.”
And they shall be secure in their land means God’s people will “live safely in their own land” (Contemporary English Version; see verse 25), because they will be free from drought and hunger.
And they shall know that I am the LORD: The people will acknowledge Yahweh as God after they are set free (see the comments on the rest of this verse), and enjoy prosperity and security. F
When I break the bars of their yoke means God “will set them free from slavery” (Contemporary English Version). The bars of their yoke is picture language for the way people were taken captive and made slaves. A yoke was a wooden frame that was placed on the necks of animals to harness them for work, but it was also used on people when they were captured in war to stop them from escaping, or they omit the figurative language altogether (so Contemporary English Version). These are good solutions where the significance of the yoke as a symbol of slavery is unknown. If translators want to retain the image, they may say “I will break the wooden collars on their necks that they have as slaves.”
And deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them: This clause repeats the same idea as the previous one. God will set his people free from those who enslave them. This slavery probably refers to the time of the exile, and God is looking forward to the time when the people will return to their own land. Hand is used as a figure for power here (see 1.3). New Century Version renders this clause as “and save them from the power of those who made them slaves.”
In many languages it will be more natural to restructure the last half of this verse as follows: “I will break those chains that bind them and set them free from the power of those who have made them slaves. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”
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 .