Edom trafficked with you because of your abundant goods: There is textual uncertainty here. Many Hebrew manuscripts and some early translations have “Edom” (Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Moffatt, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), but others read “Aram” (New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version, New American Standard Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), which is better known as “Syria” (Good News Translation, New Living Translation, King James Version / New King James Version). In Hebrew the difference between the two words rests on two very similar letters (“d” and “r”), which scribes often confused when they were copying texts (compare the comments on 16.57). Edom was a country about 300 kilometers (185 miles) southeast of Tyre, and the country of “Aram” was northeast of Tyre, extending to the northern part of Mesopotamia. In this context neither country is more appropriate than the other. However, against the reading of “Aram” is the fact that its capital city, Damascus, appears at verse 18. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends that translators may use either reading here. Whether they use Edom or “Aram,” they may find it helpful to identify the one they choose as a country or nation, for example, “the country of Edom.” For trafficked and because of your abundant goods, see the introductory comments on this subunit.

They exchanged for your wares emeralds, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and agate: It is not possible to identify exactly the goods traded from Edom (or Aram). Emeralds are rich green jewels, but scholars have suggested the Hebrew word here might refer to “malachite” or “turquoise” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), which was mined in Sinai. It is one of the jewels in the breastpiece of the High Priest (see Exo 28.18). Here translators may say “precious green stones [or, gemstones],” unless of course “turquoise” is a stone their readers are familiar with. Purple refers to rich purple cloth (see the comments on Ezek 27.7). For embroidered work and fine linen, see Ezek 27.7, even though a different Hebrew word for fine linen is used here. No one knows for sure what the Hebrew words for coral and agate refer to; the word for coral may refer to the red coral found in the Mediterranean and Red Seas, and the word for agate probably refers to a red gemstone (compare “red jasper” [Revised English Bible] and “rubies” [Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version]). Because the identification of the emeralds, coral, and agate is so uncertain, it is probably best to render them with a general expression for jewels or gemstones, such as “precious green and red stones from the sea and land.” This is also recommended for those languages that do not have words for the individual gems.

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 .