And I said to them: God does not say when he told the Israelites this, but it seems to be a summary of the laws that he gave to them at Mount Sinai. If possible, it is best not to be specific about this point.

Cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on, every one of you: God told each of the Israelites to get rid of the disgusting idols they worshiped. Cast away may be rendered “throw away” (Good News Translation, New Century Version) or “get rid of” (Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Living Translation). The detestable things refers to “their disgusting idols” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version), that is, the statues of the false gods they worshiped (see 5.11). Your eyes feast on means they “looked up” (Revised English Bible) to these idols and “loved” (Good News Translation) to worship them (compare verse 24). Every one of you stresses that each and every one of them had to obey this command. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version reduce the force of the command by omitting this phrase.

And do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt means they should avoid making themselves ritually and ceremonially unclean with Egyptian idols (so Good News Translation, New Century Version). For defile yourselves, see 4.14. The idols of Egypt were large statues of false gods in the shape of human beings or animals. The Hebrew word for idols is a very strong term, which New Jerusalem Bible expresses well as “foul idols” (see the comments on 6.4). A model for this whole clause is “and do not make yourselves unfit to worship me [or, unacceptable to me] by worshiping the Egyptian idols.”

I am the LORD your God: Although this clause in Hebrew is attached to the end of the verse with no grammatical connector, it gives the reason why the people should not worship other gods. Good News Translation makes this connection explicit by saying “because I am the LORD their God.”

A model for this verse is:

• I said to them “Every one of you, get rid of the things you love that I hate. Don’t make yourselves unfit for my presence by worshiping the idols of Egypt. For I am Yahweh your God [or, Yahweh, the God you worship].”

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 .