And they will say: The pronoun they refers to the people who pass through the land of Israel after it is farmed again. Their statement shows the contrast between what the land was like before God acts and what it will be like after he brings them back to their land.

This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden: The land will become a luxuriant, well-watered garden like the one God created for the first man to live in (see Gen 2–3).

And the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now inhabited and fortified: The Hebrew words for waste, desolate and ruined are very similar in meaning. Some translations try to reflect the three different terms; for example, New Century Version refers to the cities as being “destroyed, empty, and ruined,” Revised English Bible has “ruined, wasted, and shattered,” New International Reader’s Version says “broken-down … destroyed and empty,” and Good News Translation translates “torn down, looted, and left in ruins.” However, others give the meaning in a shortened form; for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch says “abandoned and in ruins,” Contemporary English Version has “lying in ruins,” and New Living Translation (1996) uses simply “ruined.” By using these three terms together, the people passing by are saying the Israelite cities were completely destroyed. An appropriate way of rendering these terms is “totally destroyed and in ruins.” In contrast to the ruined cities of the past, the people who pass by note that they are now inhabited and fortified, that is, people are living in them (see verse 10), and the cities have strong walls around them (see 21.20).

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 .