Its rust is your filthy lewdness: As mentioned above, Revised Standard Version places the last Hebrew word (rendered Its rust) of verse 12 here. This is unnecessary and skews the meaning of this verse. The first clause of this verse in Hebrew reads literally “In your filthiness is lewdness” (New King James Version , New American Standard Bible). So this verse begins by identifying the filthiness, that is, the scum on the inside of the pot, as the lewdness of the people of Jerusalem. For the Hebrew word rendered lewdness, see 16.27, where it is translated “lewd behavior.” Here it may be expressed as “[sexually] immoral actions” (Good News Translation). A model for this whole clause is “That scum [in the pot] is your sexual immorality.”

The rest of this verse describes how God tried to make the people of Jerusalem clean, but because they refused to obey him, he decided to punish them completely.

Because I would have cleansed you means God wanted to or tried to make the people clean. New Century Version says “I wanted to cleanse you,” and New Living Translation has “I tried to cleanse you.” The cleansing here refers to ritual purity and freedom from sinful activity. For more detail on how to translate terms relating to ritual purity and impurity, see the comments on 4.13. Here translators may render cleansed you as “make you fit to worship me” or “make you fit to be in my presence.”

And you were not cleansed from your filthiness means the people refused to let God cleanse them. The conjunction and is better rendered “but” (New Century Version) to express the contrast here. New International Reader’s Version translates this clause as “But you would not let me make you pure.”

You shall not be cleansed any more till I have satisfied my fury upon you means the people will remain filthy until God has punished them in his anger and has calmed down. Fury is another word for “anger” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible; compare Contemporary English Version “fierce anger”). For I have satisfied my fury upon you, see 5.13, where a Hebrew expression with the same verb is rendered “I will vent my fury upon them.” New International Version says “my wrath against you has subsided,” and New International Reader’s Version has “my burning anger against you has calmed down.”

A model for this verse is:

• That scum that made you unclean was your sexual immorality. I wanted to make you clean [or, fit to worship me], but you would not let me. So you will remain unclean until I have used up all my anger on you.

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 .