I will execute great vengeance upon them with wrathful chastisements: As with the Edomites (see verse 14), God will pay back the Philistines for the revenge they took on the Israelites. I will execute great vengeance upon them means God will “take full revenge on them” (Good News Translation). New Century Version says “do great acts of revenge to them,” and New Living Translation has “execute terrible vengeance against them.” Wrathful chastisements (literally “rebukes of anger”) carries the idea of punishment delivered by God in anger at their sin (compare 5.15). Good News Translation says “punish them severely.” A model for this whole sentence is “I am angry at them. I will punish them severely and pay them back fully [for what they did to my people].”

Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I lay my vengeance upon them: This recognition formula follows the one in verse 5, but adds that the Philistines will only recognize God once he takes revenge on them. For I lay my vengeance upon them, see verse 14. A model for this sentence is “When I take revenge on them, then they will recognize that I am Yahweh.”

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 .