And he took one of the seed royal: Nebuchadnezzar selected Zedekiah, who was an uncle of King Jehoiachin of Judah (see the previous verse). New Century Version says “Then he took a member of the family of the king.”

And made a covenant with him, putting him under oath: Nebuchadnezzar made a “treaty” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) with Zedekiah. For covenant see 16.8. Putting him under oath means he “made him swear to be loyal” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). This oath involved listing the punishment that Zedekiah would receive if he broke the treaty (compare 16.59). While Nebuchadnezzar was still in Jerusalem, he appointed Zedekiah as king in place of Jehoiachin. The details here reflect the normal procedure of making political treaties in the ancient Near East.

The chief men of the land he had taken away: Nebuchadnezzar took into exile the chief men of the land, which is literally “the rams of the land” (compare Exo 15.15). Here this phrase refers to the men who were powerful in Judah. It may be rendered “Judah’s most influential leaders,” “the important men in Judah,” or “the leading men of the country” (New Jerusalem Bible; similarly New International Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). They included skilled craftsmen and able-bodied young men who could become soldiers, as well as the political leadership in Judah (compare 2 Kgs 24.14-16). They were the leaders of society, but not members of the royal family (compare the “princes” in verse 12). Revised Standard Version does not distinguish between these two groups, so it puts parentheses around this clause and the next verse as if they were an aside or an interruption, because it seems to repeat information already given. It may be rendered “He [or, The king of Babylonia] had already taken away the important people of the country as captives.”

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 .