And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there: Here behold may express surprise that the divine figure that had come to Ezekiel in Babylonia in verse 2 was in the Temple. And behold may be translated “When I looked in through the gate, I saw.” For the glory of the God of Israel, see the comments on 1.28. Here it refers to the majestic, awe-inspiring presence of God. The first half of this verse may be rendered “There I saw the glorious presence of Israel’s God.”

Like the vision that I saw in the plain: Ezekiel recognized this vision of the glory of God as the same as he had seen in the Euphrates Valley (see 3.22-23). Plain may be rendered “valley” (New Jerusalem Bible, Parole de Vie, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Osty). Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version render the plain as “the Chebar River,” but strictly speaking, Ezekiel had left the settlement at the Chebar River and was in the Euphrates Valley when he saw the vision of God for the second time (see the comments on 3.22-23).

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 .