And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: According to this recognition formula, the other nations will understand why God punished the Israelites and sent them into exile. They went into captivity, that is, “exile” (Good News Translation), for their iniquity, that is, because they sinned against God. For the house of Israel, see verse 12. For the Hebrew word rendered captivity, see 12.11, where the same root is translated “exile.” The Hebrew word for iniquity refers to sin that is due to crookedness of character (see the comments on 3.19). New Living Translation renders this whole clause as “The nations will then know why Israel was sent away into exile—it was punishment for sin.” Another possible model is “And the nations will know why I sent the people of Israel into exile—it was because they sinned against me.”

Because they dealt so treacherously with me means the Israelites broke their relationship with God. This clause describes the Israelites’ sin in more detail. For the Hebrew verb rendered dealt … treacherously, see the comments on 14.13, where it is translated “acting faithlessly.” New International Version renders this clause as “because they were unfaithful to me” (similarly New International Reader’s Version, Revised English Bible). Some languages may find it hard to distinguish between iniquity and dealt … treacherously. If so, these two ideas may be combined, which Contemporary English Version does by saying “because they sinned against me” (similarly Good News Translation).

That I hid my face from them: As a result of the people’s sin, God stopped looking after them. Revised Standard Version ties the sin of the people very closely to God’s turning his back on them by using the connector that. Although it is possible to read the Hebrew in this way, the connection may be stated more simply as a result by using the conjunction “Therefore” (New Living Translation) or “So” (New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Century Version). Others make it a simple connection by using the conjunction “and” (New American Bible) or no conjunction (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version). It is best to use a result clause here, so that it is clear that God hid his face as a result of the people’s sins. I hid my face from them is an idiomatic expression that refers to someone not showing favor to someone else and ceasing to care for them. This may be due to anger or indifference. Some languages may not use this picture and will need to find another, for example, “I turned my back on them” (New Living Translation [1996]; similarly Contemporary English Version), “I closed my eyes to them,” or “I gave them backbone.” Some languages may not have an idiomatic expression and will have to translate the meaning, as in “I stopped caring for them.”

And gave them into the hand of their adversaries means God “let their enemies defeat them” (Good News Translation, International Children’s Bible). Again, hand means “power” (see verse 21).

And they all fell by the sword means all the Israelites were killed in battle (see 5.12). New Century Version says “until all of them died in war.” This is obviously an exaggeration because many of the Israelites did not die but were taken away into exile, so all may be rendered as “very many.” Some translations omit the word all; for example, Good News Translation says “and kill them in battle,” and Contemporary English Version has simply “and kill them.” Of course, many translators will retain the word all and recognize that it is very common in the Bible to use exaggerations to make a point.

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 .