With hooks they put him in a cage: The treatment of the second king of Judah is very similar to that of the first one. Again they used hooks (see Ezek 19.4), but this time they put him in a cage. The word cage is misleading because the Hebrew word here refers to a wooden collar that was placed over the neck of a prisoner to prevent him from escaping. Sometimes these collars were joined together to hold more than one prisoner, so that the series of collars looked like a ladder. Such collars were used for captured lions as well as human prisoners. New Jerusalem Bible renders this line as “They shackled him with hooks.” Translators may also say “They used hooks to put a shackle [or, band] around his neck so he could not escape.”
And brought him to the king of Babylon: This time they took the captured king, not to Egypt, but to the Babylonian king. In many languages brought is better rendered “took” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) or “led.” Here Babylon refers to the country of “Babylonia” (Good News Translation; see the comments on 12.13).
They brought him into custody means “They put him in prison” (New International Version, New Century Version; similarly Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant). This is clearly the meaning of this line, although the Hebrew word for custody usually means “nets” (New King James Version , New American Standard Bible) or “fortress” (Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Presumably the prison was a strong fortress.
That his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel: They permanently removed the captured king from the land over which he had ruled. The Hebrew word for voice may be translated “roar” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). In this way it is possible to continue the parable of the lions right to the end of the first part of the song. The mountains of Israel refers to the whole country, so this phrase may be rendered “the country of Israel.” Translators may need to reorder these two lines for naturalness, saying “so that people in the mountains [or, hills] of Israel would not be able to hear him roaring any more” or “so that in the country of Israel people would no longer hear his roaring.”
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 .