For Son of man, see Ezek 37.3.

Take a stick: God told Ezekiel to take hold of a “wooden stick” (Good News Translation). It is not clear where he was to get the stick from; most probably he picked it up from the ground. The stick was likely to have been less than 40 millimeters (1.5 inches) in diameter, so that Ezekiel could hold it easily in his hand (see the comments on verse 17).

And write on it …: God then told Ezekiel to write something on the stick. Although it is possible, it is not necessary to assume that he was to “carve” (New Living Translation) the writing into the wood. The words Ezekiel was to write on the stick were For Judah, and the children of Israel associated with him. It is clear that this stick was meant to stand for the southern kingdom of Judah (compare New Living Translation [1996] “This stick represents Judah and its allied tribes”), but it is not so clear exactly what was written on it. The Hebrew expression translated For Judah may mean “Belonging to Judah” (New International Version) or “Of Judah” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), but it is more likely that the preposition rendered For simply introduces the inscription and should not be translated (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Christian Community Bible, Moffatt, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Judah refers to “the tribe of Judah” (New International Reader’s Version), which was often used as the name of the southern kingdom. The children of Israel associated with him refers to the other tribes and individuals that made up the southern kingdom. Therefore the “The kingdom of Judah” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) is an appropriate rendering for this whole inscription.

Take another stick and write upon it …: The second half of verse 16 describes exactly the same process with a second stick. This is clearly a second stick, so even though the Hebrew reads “one stick,” Revised Standard Version and most other translations follow the Septuagint by saying “another stick.” The Hebrew words for another and “one” look very similar and scribes often confused them (see the comments on 11.19).

The second stick was For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him, which New Living Translation (1996) renders “This stick represents the northern tribes of Israel.” The northern kingdom was usually known as the kingdom of Israel, but in Ezekiel the name Israel usually applies to the whole nation, so the name Joseph is used here, even though it was not the normal name for the northern kingdom. Therefore the words in parentheses (the stick of Ephraim) are inserted to make clear what the second stick represents. Ephraim was a son of Joseph, and his tribe became so dominant in the north that the northern kingdom was often called Ephraim. All the house of Israel associated with him refers to the other tribes and individuals that made up the northern kingdom. Therefore “The kingdom of Israel” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) is an appropriate rendering for this whole inscription.

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 .