And there you shall remember your ways and all the doings with which you have polluted yourselves: When the Israelites return home, they will remember the wicked things they have done. The adverb there continues the focus on Jerusalem and the land of Israel. Remember may be rendered “recall” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Your ways and all the doings refers to their past evil behavior (see 14.22). Good News Translation says “all the disgraceful things you did,” and Contemporary English Version has “your wicked sins.” Polluted renders the same Hebrew verb translated “defile” in verse 7 (see the comments there). For with which you have polluted yourselves, Contemporary English Version expresses the meaning precisely with “They have made you unacceptable to me.”

And you shall loathe yourselves for all the evils that you have committed: The Hebrew verb rendered loathe contains the idea of deep dislike, revulsion, or disgust (see 6.9). The people will be distressed and disgusted at themselves when they remember what God has done for them and they recognize all the sins they have committed. Good News Translation provides a good model for this sentence, saying “You will be disgusted with yourselves because of all the evil things you did.”

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 .