Since a new unit begins here, Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version begin this verse with the quote frame “The LORD said,” which other languages may find helpful.

And I will set my glory among the nations: This clause is very similar in meaning to “I show my glory” in verse 13 (see the comments there). It refers to everyone seeing God’s greatness when he defeats Gog. International Children’s Bible says “And I will show my greatness among the nations.” However, this clause may be taken in a different way. It may refer to God’s glorious presence returning to the earth, where the people of the world can see and experience it. If so, it is looking forward to the vision of the next few chapters, which say a new Temple will be built in Jerusalem and God himself will return to live there (see 43.1-9). In many languages it will be impossible to render the concept of “God’s glorious presence” literally. If so, translators may render this clause as “I will come and live on the earth with great power and people will look at me with awe.”

And the nations shall see my judgment which I have executed, and my hand which I have laid on them means everyone will see God’s justice, his punishment of Gog. My hand which I have laid on them refers to the power that God will use to defeat Gog. For hand meaning “power” (Good News Translation, New Century Version), see the comments on 1.3. Translators need to be careful to distinguish between the nations and the pronoun them, which refers to Gog and his army. Some translations seem to imply that this verse talks about God punishing the nations; for example, Contemporary English Version says “When I punish the nations of the earth, they will see the brightness of my glory” (similarly New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version). In fact, the nations are the people who will see how God punishes Gog and his army.

Models for this verse are:

• “I will show the nations how great/powerful I am. All people will see the way I judge Gog and the power with which I punish him and his army.

• “I will show the nations how great I am. They will see how powerful I am when I punish Gog and his army.

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 .