And on the second day you shall offer a he-goat without blemish for a sin offering: The second day refers to the day after Ezekiel begins making the altar holy (compare verse 18). The Hebrew word for offer (literally “bring near”) is another word for offering a sacrifice. A he-goat is a “male goat” (Good News Translation). If a language does not have a single word to refer to billy-goats, it will be necessary to specify that the goat must be male. The goat had to be without blemish, that is, with “no physical defects” (New Living Translation; similarly Good News Translation). Any animal that had any “flaws” (New International Reader’s Version) such as blindness, infected skin or deformed limbs could not be used in a sacrifice to God (see Lev 22.17-24). If a language does not have a general word that includes any type of physical deformity, it may be necessary to render a he-goat without blemish as “a male goat that is not spoiled in any way” or “a male goat that is completely healthy.” New Century Version says “a male goat that has nothing wrong with it” (similarly Contemporary English Version). For sin offering, see verse 19.

And the altar shall be cleansed: The blood of the male goat is to be used to cleanse the altar of its ritual impurity (compare verse 20). In Hebrew this clause is literally “and they shall cleanse the altar” (King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible; similarly Revised English Bible, Complete Jewish Bible), which implies that others, perhaps the priests, will do this action. Translators may specify the priests here; for example, New Century Version has “The priests will make the altar pure and ready for God’s service.” Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version use a general command here that implies that Ezekiel must do the action. It is better to specify that the priests will do it.

As it was cleansed with the bull: See verses 19-21. This clause does not imply that the altar would become unclean again overnight, rather that the process of making the altar holy is one that would go on for a few days. A model for this clause and the previous one is “Then they [or, the priests] must make the altar pure [with the goat’s blood], just as they had made it pure with [the blood of] the bull [on the first day].”

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 .