On that day refers to the time when God chose the nation of Israel as his own.

I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt: God promised to rescue the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt. For I swore, see the previous verse. In languages where the verb bring would mean to take them in the direction of the readers, translators may render this clause as “I promised I would lead them out of Egypt.”

Into a land that I had searched out for them: The Hebrew verb rendered searched out suggests that God had gone ahead of the Israelites to look for a country into which to take them. It is the same word that is translated “spy out” in Num 13–14 to describe the expedition of the spies into the Promised Land. Other ways of translating this clause are “into a land that I had found for them” (New Century Version), “to a land that I had chosen for them” (Good News Translation; similarly Contemporary English Version), or “into a land that I had selected for them” (New American Standard Bible).

A land flowing with milk and honey is an idealistic picture of “a rich and fertile land” (Good News Translation). This is figurative language and for many people a literal translation may be meaningless or absurd. If so, it is best to follow Good News Translation. Other possible models are “a land where food is found in abundance” and “a land where there is plenty of good food.”

The most glorious of all lands is literally “it [is] beauty to all the lands.” This phrase describes the land in terms that great patriots might use for their home country. It is a subjective expression of love for one’s homeland. God is referring to Canaan here. Other renderings for this phrase are “the loveliest [land] of them all” (New Jerusalem Bible), “the best land in the world” (New Century Version), and “the most beautiful of all lands” (New International Version). Models for this phrase and the previous one are “That land is the number one land. It is better than all the others. There is plenty of good food to eat there” and “a land that is the most beautiful of all the lands, where food is plentiful.”

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 .