For the day is near …: This verse does not continue what the Egyptians are to cry out loudly. Here God explains why they should shout in distress. Translators should make it clear that there is a change of speaker at this point, which Good News Translation fails to do. One way to make this clear is by beginning with “For I [God] tell you, the day is almost here.”

The word day appears four times in verses 2 and 3. In the first instance (“the day” in verse 2), the exclamation “Alas” suggests a general but unspecified threat that makes the hearer feel worried and distressed. The feeling of threat increases with the second instance, the day is near, which indicates the threat is getting close. New Living Translation says “the terrible day is almost here.” The third instance, the day of the LORD is near, identifies exactly what day is in view. In Ezekiel the day of the LORD is a time of punishment, when God will bring history to an end and punish sinners (see the comments on 13.5). This third instance makes the reason for the distress and fear quite clear. It may be rendered “the LORD’s day of judging is near” (New Century Version), “the day when the LORD will judge [or, punish] you is near,” or “the LORD will punish you soon” (similarly Contemporary English Version). It will be a day of clouds does not refer to a day in which the sky is bright but overcast. The clouds here refer to the thick cumulus thunderclouds during a storm which blot out the sun and leave the ground really dark. It is this darkness that is the significant part of the picture. Bible en français courant has “It will be an intense day of menacing clouds,” New Jerusalem Bible says “it will be a day dark with cloud,” and Contemporary English Version translates “That will be a time of darkness,” which is a good model.

A time of doom for the nations: In Hebrew this phrase is literally “a time of nations,” which may refer to the opportunity that other nations will have at that time to attack Egypt (compare New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “An hour of [invading] nations”). But the Hebrew word for time is used so often in the context of coming judgment and punishment (compare 7.7) that it can imply the idea of doom. This phrase may be rendered “A day of … trouble for the nations” (Good News Translation), “a day of despair for the nations” (New Living Translation), “a time when the nations will be judged” (New Century Version), “a day of reckoning for the nations” (Revised English Bible), or “it will be a time when I [God] will judge the nations.” Although God is only focusing on Egypt, the day of the LORD will apply to all nations.

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 .