And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing: The meaning of this clause is unclear. Many translations take the pronoun them to refer to the people, for example, Good News Translation says “I will bless them and let them live around my sacred hill” (similarly Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Christian Community Bible, Moffatt). However, it is difficult to understand how the Hebrew expression rendered make them … a blessing can mean “bless them.” It is better to take the pronoun them to refer to “the wilderness” and “the woods” of the previous verse, which fit well with the places round about my hill. My hill refers to Mount Zion on which Jerusalem stood. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch combines the pronoun them with the places round about my hill, saying “the whole country around my mountain,” which is a good model. One of the core meanings for the Hebrew root of the word rendered blessing is “to be fertile.” God promises to make the whole area around Jerusalem, even the parched and previously uninhabitable areas, a good place to live.

And I will send down the showers in their season: To bring about this transformation of the land, God will send rain when needed. New Century Version says “I will cause the rains to come when it is time,” New International Reader’s Version has “I will send down rain at the right time,” and New Living Translation translates “And in the proper season I will send the showers they need.”

They shall be showers of blessing means the rain will make things grow in the area around Jerusalem. However, here blessing is probably ambiguous, with some of its normal meaning of bringing good results for the people. Translators may find it difficult to incorporate both elements of the meaning.

Models for this verse are:

• I will send rain at the right time and make the whole country around the mountain where Jerusalem stands fertile. This good rain will produce many good things from the land for the people.

• They will live in those areas and all the area around my hill where Jerusalem is. I will make these places good for them to live in because I will send them rain at the right time and make the land fertile.

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 .