And the man said to me: In the vision the man shining like polished metal spoke to Ezekiel.

For Son of man (International Children’s Bible “Human being”),

Look with your eyes, and hear with your ears is an emphatic way of saying “watch and listen” (compare 12.2). Translators should not follow the Hebrew idioms here too closely, since these idioms can sound absurd if rendered literally, but they should try to find appropriately emphatic terms in their own languages. Revised English Bible has “look closely and listen carefully.”

And set your mind upon all that I shall show you: Set your mind upon may be rendered “pay close attention to” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation) or “note well” (Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). All that I shall show you refers to everything that the man shows to Ezekiel in the Temple area, as it is described in the next few chapters.

For you were brought here in order that I might show it to you: God brought Ezekiel to Jerusalem, so that the man could show him the new Temple. New Century Version renders this clause simply as “that’s why you have been brought here” (similarly Contemporary English Version), and New International Reader’s Version has “That is why the LORD brought you here.”

Declare all that you see to the house of Israel: After seeing everything, Ezekiel must describe it all to the people of Israel. For the house of Israel, that is, “the people of Israel” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version), see the comments on 3.1. This sentence may be rendered “Tell the people of Israel everything you see.”

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 .