The first half of this verse repeats and strengthens the ideas of the previous verses.

And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries: See verses 9-10. Many translations take this sentence as a superlative, saying that Egypt will be “the most desolate country in the world” (Good News Translation; similarly Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Contemporary English Version says “the most barren place on earth,” International Children’s Bible has “the emptiest country of all,” and New International Reader’s Version translates “more empty than any other land.” However, it is also possible that this sentence is not saying Egypt will be more desolate than other countries or the most desolate of all. Instead, it may be saying Egypt will be desolate, just like other desolate countries, or just as desolate as others. This is the sense of the following renderings: “I will make the land of Egypt one of the desolate lands” (Moffatt), “I will make it one of the wastelands” (Christian Community Bible), and “I will make Egypt as desolate as any country could be” (Allen). Either interpretation is acceptable.

And her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste: This sentence refers to the cities of Egypt in the same way as the previous sentence referred to the country as a whole. The Hebrew verb rendered laid waste implies that the cities are “in ruins” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version; see the comments on 12.20).

Models for the two ways of translating the first half of this verse are:

• I will destroy the land of Egypt so that it will be the most barren [or, emptiest] country of all, and the cities in Egypt will be in ruins for forty years. They will be more totally ruined than any other city.

• I will destroy the land of Egypt so that it will be as barren [or, empty] as any other country. And for forty years the cities in Egypt will be in ruins. They will be just like any other ruined city.

I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries: The Egyptians will suffer the same fate as the Israelites had suffered—God will send them into exile in other countries (see 12.15). The Hebrew verbs for scatter and disperse are synonyms, and some translations do not use both (so Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Depending on the requirements of the language, this is acceptable. In many languages there is not really a distinction between nations and countries (see 11.16). Translators may render this whole sentence as “I will scatter them throughout all the different countries.”

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 .