I will strew your flesh upon the mountains: The Hebrew word rendered strew simply means “put” or “place,” but most translations prefer to use a more descriptive verb, for example, “scatter” (New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version, Christian Community Bible) and “spread” (Contemporary English Version, New International Version). Although such verbs add some vividness to the text, it is unnecessary to use them here. Your flesh refers to the dead body of the sea monster. It may be rendered “your corpse” or “your carcass” (Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).

And fill the valleys with your carcass: The two lines of this verse mean the remains of the dead monster will be lying on the mountains and in the valleys, that is, everywhere, all over the place (see 6.3). Carcass translates a Hebrew word that means “size/bulk,” which must refer to the supernatural size of the dead monster. But with minor changes of the vowels, the word means “maggots/worms,” referring to the rotting body of the monster (compare Good News Translation “rotting corpse” and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “rotting flesh”). Either interpretation is permissible.

Models for this verse are:

• I will put your dead body on the mountains and fill the valleys with your huge corpse.

• I will cover the mountains and valleys with your rotting corpse.

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 .