Moreover this they have done to me means the sisters had done more sins than those mentioned in the previous verse. Good News Translation says “And that is not all they did,” and New Jerusalem Bible has “And here is something else they have done to me.”

They have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my sabbaths: They have defiled my sanctuary means they made the Temple ritually unclean (see 5.11). Translators may say “They made my Temple unfit for worship.” Profaned my sabbaths means they destroyed the holiness of the Sabbath days, which God had set aside as sacred days of rest (see 20.13). They did this by breaking the laws of the Sabbath that God had given. Good News Translation says “broke the Sabbath, which I had established,” and Contemporary English Version has “stopped respecting the Sabbath.” On the same day connects the pollution of the Temple and the Sabbath with the adultery and murder of verse 37.

For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it: This sentence shows that the sisters were entering the Temple while they were ritually unclean from their false worship and child sacrifices. That made the Temple unclean. The repetition of on the same day shows that there was a close connection between these sins. Translators need not to repeat this phrase as long as this close connection is kept in some way. They may follow the requirements of their own languages.

And lo, this is what they did in my house: Lo renders the Hebrew particle hinneh. Here it emphasizes the seriousness and horror of the sisters’ sins. This is what they did in my house repeats the idea occurring at the beginning of verse 38. By repeating it God emphasizes that the sins of the sisters were terrible. Translators should look for ways to heighten the sense of God’s disgust and horror at the actions of the two sisters. My house refers to the Temple in Jerusalem.

The similarity of content between these two verses means that it is acceptable to abbreviate the text. Contemporary English Version provides a good model by combining them as follows: “They came into my temple that same day, and that made it unfit as a place to worship me. They have even stopped respecting the Sabbath.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (1982) is similar with “And even on the same day that they had killed their children, they came into my Temple. Thus they polluted my house. And they have dishonored the Sabbath, my rest-day.” Here is another model for combining these two verses:

• And here is something else that they did to me: on the very day that they killed their children as sacrifices to their idols, they entered my Temple and thus made it unfit for my worship. And they also stopped respecting the day of rest that I had given them to honor me. Yes, it is true, this is what they did in my Temple.

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 .