And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me: And may be rendered “Then” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version) to introduce the next event. The Spirit of the LORD may be understood as the Holy Spirit, but this phrase refers more likely to the spirit of Yahweh that empowered Ezekiel to prophesy. If readers understand the Spirit of the LORD to mean his ghost or phantom, or if the word for “spirit” normally refers to something evil, translators may say “the power of Yahweh.” However, this expression is unique and it is best if translators can retain “the spirit of Yahweh.” Fell upon me does not mean that Yahweh’s spirit fell on Ezekiel like a stone on his head, but it took control of him, giving him the power to prophesy (compare 8.1). Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version say “took control of me,” and New Living Translation has “came upon me.” New Century Version uses “entered me,” which doesn’t really carry the correct meaning of taking control.

And he said to me: The Hebrew text indicates that Yahweh, not his spirit, addressed Ezekiel. Good News Translation makes this clear by saying “and the LORD told me.”

Say introduces what Yahweh wants Ezekiel to say to the people of Israel.

Thus says the LORD is a traditional formula for a prophet delivering a message from God to the people. Normally Ezekiel uses a fuller form, namely, “Thus says the Lord GOD”, but there is no significant difference in the meaning. The formula tells where the message comes from and establishes the authority of the prophet—it shows that the prophet is speaking on behalf of God. It may be expressed as “Here is what Yahweh says” or “Here is the message from Yahweh.”

So you think, O house of Israel: These words begin the actual prophecy. So you think means God knows what the leaders of Jerusalem were saying about their situation (see Ezek 11.3). New International Version renders this clause well with “That is what you are saying.”

For I know the things that come into your mind is similar in meaning to the previous clause. God not only knows what the leaders are saying, but also what they are thinking. Good News Translation says “and what you are planning.” For Good News Translation this clause and the previous one are coordinate clauses, so it uses the connector “and” (which renders the Hebrew waw conjunction translated for). However, some translations use the contrastive connector “but” (New International Version, International Children’s Bible), which implies that the leaders are saying one thing but God knows what they are really thinking. This interpretation is possible, and ultimately the meaning is the same, namely, that God knows what the leaders are thinking.

A model for this verse is:

• Then Yahweh’s spirit took control of me, and God said to me, “Say to the people, ‘This is what Yahweh says: “People of Israel, I know what you are saying and what you are thinking.

However, in many languages it will not be natural to have three levels of quotation. If so, indirect speech may be used for the first level as follows:

• Then Yahweh’s spirit took control of me and God gave me a message for the people of Israel. I said to them, “People of Israel, here is what Yahweh says to you: ‘I know what you are saying and what you are thinking.

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 .