I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon: This is the second time God describes how he will catch Zedekiah in a net and a snare like an animal and take him to Babylonia (see the comments on 12.13).

And enter into judgment with him there may be rendered “and bring him to court there” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), “and try him there” (New King James Version ), or simply “punish him there” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible).

For the treason he has committed against me is literally “his unfaithfulness that he has acted unfaithfully against me.” This clause in Hebrew has a noun and verb from the same root meaning “act unfaithfully” (see 14.13). Treason usually refers to betraying one’s country to its enemies and is not really appropriate here. It is better to understand the Hebrew expression here in a religious sense of acting unfaithfully toward God (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Century Version, New American Standard Bible, New Jerusalem Bible).

A model for this verse is:

• I will catch him, just like someone throws a net over a wild animal or catches it in a trap. Then I will take him to Babylonia and punish him for being unfaithful to me [or, for the wicked things that he did against me].

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 .