No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it: People will not travel through Egypt, and even wild animals won’t roam through the country. Foot of man and foot of beast are just a different way of saying “person” and “animal.” Good News Translation says “human being … animal,” and New Living Translation has “people … animals.”

It shall be uninhabited forty years means nobody will live in Egypt for one whole generation (Greenberg). The country will be totally deserted.

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 .