And I will pour my wrath upon Pelusium, the stronghold of Egypt: Pelusium (“Sin” in Hebrew; so King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) was a strategic city on the Mediterranean coast east of the Nile Delta. It was on the border between Egypt and the Philistines and was very important for the defense of Egypt if anyone from Asia wanted to attack Egypt. It is described as the stronghold of Egypt. Good News Translation says “Egypt’s great fortress,” and New Living Translation has “the strongest fortress of Egypt.” If readers in a language are not familiar with the concept of stronghold or “fortress,” translators may say “the city that guards Egypt.” Despite Pelusium’s military strength, God says I will pour my wrath upon Pelusium. For this imagery of God pouring out his wrath as if it were a hot liquid, see the comments on 7.8. Good News Translation says “I will let the city of Pelusium … feel my fury,” and Contemporary English Version has “The … city of Pelusium will feel my fierce anger.” For those languages in which it is unnatural for a city to feel God’s anger, it is appropriate to say that the people who live there will feel it. Possible models for the first two lines of this verse are “Pelusium is the city that guards Egypt. The people there will feel the force of my anger” and “I will make the people of Pelusium suffer from my anger. That is the city that guards Egypt.”

And cut off the multitude of Thebes: Here God gives a second judgment on Thebes (“No” in Hebrew; see the previous verse). Instead of Thebes, the Septuagint has “Memphis” (New American Bible), which is equivalent to the name “Noph” (Revised English Bible) in Hebrew. However, translators should follow the Hebrew text here by saying “Thebes” or “No” (Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). Cut off can mean simply “destroy” (New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “wipe out” (Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible), but in this context the full significance of cutting, that is, with a sword, may apply, so it may be rendered “slaughter” (similarly Contemporary English Version). For the Hebrew word translated multitude (“wealth” in Good News Translation), see the comments on verse 10. Translators should render it the same way as there. New Century Version has “great numbers of people” in both verses.

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 .