Thus says the Lord GOD: This prophetic formula gives weight to the following words by showing that they are the words of God. Lord renders the Hebrew word ʾadonai, and GOD renders “Yahweh” (YHWH in Hebrew), the name of God. This prophetic formula may be rendered “Hear what the Lord Yahweh says” or “Listen to what the Lord Yahweh says.” For many languages it is difficult for God to speak of himself in the third person. One way of overcoming this difficulty is to use the first person as follows: “This is what I, the Lord GOD, am saying” (similarly Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (1982)). Another way is to insert a brief statement to Ezekiel as follows: “Say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord GOD is saying to you [people]’ ” (similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Good News Translation follows a third alternative, in which these words are no longer the words of God: “The Sovereign LORD said.” This rendering reduces the force of the prophetic formula and is not recommended.

This is Jerusalem is an explanation of part of Ezekiel’s symbolic actions in 4.1-3. This clause explains that the brick represented Jerusalem, which needs to be made explicit in translation. One model that does this is “That brick, it represents the city of Jerusalem.” Good News Translation says “Look at Jerusalem,” which is not really satisfactory because the verb phrase “Look at” can have a general extended sense of “consider” or “think about.” With that sense it focuses attention on the actual city of Jerusalem, not on the brick that represents it.

I have set her in the center of the nations …: The pronoun her refers to Jerusalem. By using the word center, Revised Standard Version seems to have been influenced by 38.12 (see the comments there) and later Jewish writings. Revised Standard Version‘s rendering implies that Jerusalem is special; it is the geographic center of the earth. Many scholars and other translations express the same sense; for example, Contemporary English Version renders this clause as “I have made Jerusalem the most important place in the world.” However, the Hebrew is not so specific. It says only “I have set her among [or, in the middle of] the nations” (similarly Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). Thus God put Jerusalem there with countries round about her, that is, surrounded by other countries. The people of Jerusalem and the rest of Judah were just one of the nations, like any other nation. In the context of the next few verses, this is significant. The people of Judah were just like the other nations, except that they were more sinful than the others. And because they had sinned in the sight of the other nations, God was going to punish them in front of these nations (see verses 6-8).

For Jerusalem to be in the center of the nations and also with countries round about her may seem to be saying the same thing twice. But a slight distinction can be retained, as in Parole de Vie, which says “I had placed her in the middle of other peoples, she was surrounded by foreign countries.” Jerusalem is referred to in the text with the feminine pronoun her, but many languages will use the pronoun “it” in referring to a city. Translators should do what is natural in their language.

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 .