You shall be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror, to the nations round about you: God piles up near synonyms here to describe the fate of Jerusalem. The city will be a reproach, that is, it will be so humiliated that people will laugh at it (see verse 14, where the Hebrew word for reproach is rendered “object of reproach”). It will be a taunt, that is, people will insult and abuse it. It will be a warning, an example of what can happen to a city if its people do not obey God. And it will be a horror, that is, it will be so desolated that people will be shocked and appalled at the way in which it has been destroyed. The last two words may be taken together; for example, Revised English Bible renders this whole clause as “You will be an object of mockery and abuse, an appalling lesson to the nations round about.” For many languages it may be cumbersome to include all of these terms. If so, one of them may be left out for the sake of naturalness in the receptor language. Also, in many languages translators will have to use verbs rather than nouns. One model that does this is “People from the nations around you will laugh at you and insult you. People will be horrified to see what happened to you, and you will be an example of what can happen to those who disobey me.”
Instead of you shall be, the Hebrew text has “it shall be” (Revised Standard Version footnote), referring to Jerusalem in the third person. Revised Standard Version follows many of the early versions by using second person for Jerusalem, because God is addressing Jerusalem in verses 14-15. The Hebrew text may be simply a scribal mistake, or it may be an example of the Hebrew language being able to change between second and third person within a single paragraph, even when referring to the same person. Whichever of these is correct, translators should use the second person, as in the model below.
When I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and with furious chastisements: Jerusalem will suffer this fate when God punishes the people there in anger. For I execute judgments on you, see the comments on Ezek 5.8. In anger and fury, and with furious chastisements means God will punish Jerusalem because he is angry with the people. Once again, near synonyms are piled up together. The words anger and fury are repeated from verse 13. The Hebrew word for chastisements comes from a root meaning to rebuke, correct, or punish. Furious chastisements is literally “rebukes of anger.” Here it refers to severe punishment. It is acceptable not to include all three synonyms if that is cumbersome. Translators may render this clause as “This will happen when in my great anger I punish you terribly and bring my severe judgment on you.”
I, the LORD, have spoken: Good News Translation omits this clause because it also occurs in verses 13 and 17. But in doing so Good News Translation loses some of the impact of the divine judgment on Jerusalem and its people in the last part of this chapter. These words act as a refrain and in fact should be used as a guide for paragraph breaks. Thus verse 13 is the conclusion of one paragraph. Verses 14-15 are a paragraph, focusing on the fate of Jerusalem. Verses 16-17 are a separate paragraph that focuses on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, even though at the end it returns to the city itself. This clause may be rendered “It is I, Yahweh, who tells you this” or “I am Yahweh. I have said this.”
Many languages may find it easier to rearrange this verse (so Good News Translation). A model that does this is:
• I am very angry with you. I will punish you severely because I am so angry. After I punish you, the foreign nations around you will laugh at your shame and insult you. They will be shocked to see what has happened to you. You will be an example to them. I, Yahweh, tell you this.
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 .