And I will set my face against them: The connector And continues God’s words. Many languages omit it (so New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, New International Version). I will set my face against them means God will punish the people of Jerusalem (compare the same idiom in 14.8). New Century Version says “I turn against them.”

Though they escape from the fire, the fire shall yet consume them: Good News Translation expresses the Hebrew text more clearly here with “They have escaped one fire, but now fire will burn them up” (similarly Contemporary English Version, New Century Version). The fire they escaped refers metaphorically to the first time Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem in 597 B.C. Many of the people who survived that disaster were still living in Jerusalem, and Ezekiel here predicts that another fire will kill them. We can identify this second fire as the final destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.

And you will know that I am the LORD: Here again is the theme that people will recognize God by what he does. The Hebrew pronoun for you is plural, not singular (so Contemporary English Version), and refers to Ezekiel’s audience in exile. Translators may need to say “you all” or “you people.”

When I set my face against them: This clause simply repeats the first clause to tie closely together God’s actions and the resulting recognition by the people. In English such repetition is awkward, so some translations replace it with a general expression, such as “when that happens” (Contemporary English Version; similarly New Living Translation [1996]). New Century Version places this clause before the previous one, saying “When I turn against them, you will know that I am the LORD.” Translators need to do what is most appropriate in their own languages.

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 .