You shall say: God gives Ezekiel the words to say.

Thus says the Lord GOD: The prophecy itself opens with the traditional prophetic formula. Lord renders the Hebrew word ʾadonai, and GOD renders “Yahweh” (YHWH in Hebrew).

A city that sheds blood in the midst of her, that her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself!: The prophecy actually addresses the city of Jerusalem here, so some versions begin with “O city” (New International Version, New Living Translation, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Moffatt, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or “Jerusalem” (Contemporary English Version). For those languages in which it is unnatural to speak to a city, translators may begin with “People [or, Inhabitants] of the city.” In fact, throughout the prophecy in verses 3-16, God switches freely between addressing the city itself and the people of the city. Translators may use whichever expression fits their language best.

The city of Jerusalem sheds blood in the midst of her and makes idols, that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem have killed people inside the holy city and have made statues of false gods to worship. For the Hebrew word rendered idols (“foul idols” in New Jerusalem Bible), see the comments on 6.4. Because of the murders in the city, her time may come, that is, the people will be punished soon, and because of the idolatry there, the people defile themselves, that is, they have become ritually “unclean” (New Century Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh; see 4.14).

Good News Translation has reordered the last sentence of this verse to make it more natural in English as follows: “Because you have murdered so many of your own people and have defiled yourself by worshiping idols, your time is coming.” Another possible model is “You are a city that has murdered many of your people right in town and you have made yourself unfit for my presence by making idols [to worship]. Therefore the time when you will be judged [or, when I will punish you] is near.”

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 .