And she has wickedly rebelled against my ordinances more than the nations: In this context the Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And may also be translated “But” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Some translations have no conjunction at all (so Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible). Naturalness in the receptor language will determine the choice. The pronoun she refers to Jerusalem, that is, the people who lived in and around Jerusalem. It needs to be made clear in translation that the city of Jerusalem really means the people who lived there. In some languages using the name of the city to refer to the people is easily understood, but in others it will be better to say “her people.” Revised Standard Version‘s translation she has wickedly rebelled against my ordinances more than the nations is misleading in two ways. First, it gives the impression that God had given his ordinances, that is, his Law, to other nations as well as to Israel. But it is clear in the Old Testament that God gave his Law only to Israel, and not to the foreign nations. Second, Revised Standard Version has mistranslated the Hebrew word for wickedly. The Hebrew of this clause reads literally “she rebelled against my laws to [become] more wicked than the nations.” Good News Translation is closer to the Hebrew than Revised Standard Version, saying “Jerusalem rebelled against my commands and showed that she was more wicked than the other nations.” New Revised Standard Version is even better with “she has rebelled against my ordinances … becoming more wicked than the nations.” Rebelled against means “disobeyed.” The nations are the foreign nations among whom God had placed Jerusalem. The Revised Standard Version footnote on this clause may be ignored, because it follows some ancient versions that seem to have misunderstood the Hebrew.
Against my statutes more than the countries round about her has almost the same meaning as against my ordinances more than the nations. Many translations combine these two phrases; for example, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh begins this verse with “But she rebelled against My rules and My laws, acting more wickedly than the nations and the countries round about her.” This is an acceptable rendering.
The Hebrew words for ordinances and statutes are almost synonymous, but their meaning can be distinguished. Ordinances (mishpat in Hebrew) refer to the provisions of civil and criminal law, the decisions made by rulers and judges in the law courts, and the laws and legal judgments that regulate people’s lives. This word is best rendered “laws” (New International Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible) or “commands” (so Good News Translation, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Statutes (chuqah in Hebrew) are the commandments and laws enacted by a ruler or government; they are fixed and definite. This word is best rendered “rules” (New Century Version, Bible en français courant) or “laws” (Good News Translation, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). In many languages it may be difficult to distinguish these two words. In those cases, and where repetition of very similar terms is cumbersome, it is acceptable to use one well-known term to cover both the Hebrew words, for example, “laws” (so Contemporary English Version) or “commandments.” Alternatively, my ordinances and my statutes may be rendered “the things that I commanded them to do.”
By rejecting my ordinances and not walking in my statutes is literally “because [or, surely] they have rejected my laws and they have not walked in my rules.” This clause begins with the Hebrew word ki, which can be a logical connector meaning “because,” or it can be an emphatic particle meaning “surely.” If it is understood as a logical connector, this clause gives the reason why the people of Jerusalem became more wicked than their neighbors (so New King James Version , Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). It is better to understand ki as an emphatic particle here because this clause is a climax and repeats ideas from the first half of the verse. Many translations take it this way, even though they do not include a word such as “surely” (so New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Century Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). “Essentially,” “Indeed,” “In truth,” and “In fact” are good renderings of this emphatic particle. The Hebrew verb rendered rejecting means “deliberately ignore,” “neglect,” “disobey,” or “show contempt for.” Walking in is used metaphorically here with the meaning of “live according to” or “obey.” This clause may be rendered “Indeed, they have disobeyed my laws and have not behaved according to the rules I gave them.”
In Hebrew this verse begins with the singular pronoun she to refer to the people of Jerusalem, but the last clause uses the plural pronoun “they.” Some translations simply follow the pronouns used in Hebrew (so New King James Version , New Jerusalem Bible). Others change the plural to the singular for consistency (so Good News Translation, New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or use plural throughout (so Contemporary English Version, Bible en français courant). Each of these approaches is acceptable as long as the meaning is clear. However, if translators wish to reflect the Hebrew closely and use singular first and then plural, it would be wise to make the identity of the subjects explicit. This can be done by mentioning “the city of Jerusalem” in the first part of the verse and “the people of Jerusalem” in the last part.
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 .