Then you will remember your ways, and be ashamed: The beginning of this verse provides a nice contrasting balance to the way God will remember the covenant at the beginning of the previous verse. The conjunction Then may be rendered “After that” or “Because of that” to reflect this contrast. You will remember your ways, and be ashamed means the people of Jerusalem will recall their wicked life, and they will be ashamed at the wicked things they have done. Your ways refers to their wicked lifestyle.

When I take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and give them to you as daughters: Jerusalem’s shame will be all the greater when God takes her sisters (Samaria and Sodom) and gives them to her as daughters. The idea of sisters becoming daughters is metaphorical and has two meanings. First, its meaning depends on the proverbial statement in verse 44, showing that, if Jerusalem is the mother of those two wicked cities, Jerusalem herself was very wicked also. Second, it has a political meaning: the areas of Samaria and Sodom will become subject to Jerusalem. For elder and younger sisters, see verse 46. As there, these adjectives are better rendered “bigger” and “smaller.” Some translations omit these adjectives and just refer to “your sisters” (so Contemporary English Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). This is acceptable here because the sisters have already been described in verse 46. Good News Translation renders and give them to you as daughters as “I will let them be like daughters to you,” which some languages may find helpful. For daughters see verse 46.

But not on account of the covenant with you means God will give Jerusalem power over those two cities despite the fact that the people of Jerusalem had broken their covenant with him. Normally such political power and success was seen as a reward for faithfulness to God, but not in this case. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch provides a good model for this clause, saying “That is more than I promised you when I made the agreement with you.” Contemporary English Version says “even though this was not part of our agreement.”

There is a slight textual problem in this verse. Instead of when I take (so also New Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible), the Hebrew text has “when you receive,” which most translations follow (so Good News Translation, New International Version, New Century Version, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Moffatt). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends following the Hebrew text here. Changing it is unnecessary.

A model for this verse is:

• Because of that you will recall what you have done, and you will feel ashamed when you get back your sisters. I will let them be like daughters to you, even though this was not part of my agreement with you.

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 .