Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying: God continues to speak, now not just to Ezekiel, but loudly so that many people can hear. For clarity some translations render the pronoun he as “God” (Good News Translation) or “the LORD” (Contemporary English Version). Cried in my ears with a loud voice does not mean God shouted into Ezekiel’s ears, but it means Ezekiel could hear what God was saying, even though God was not talking to him. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “called loudly in my hearing” (similarly New Revised Standard Version, New King James Version ). This phrase is a play on words with the phrase in 8.18 (“cry in my ears with a loud voice”), where the words are almost the same in Hebrew but the meaning is different. Good News Translation has a good model for this clause, saying “Then I heard God shout.” Parole de Vie leaves implied the fact that Ezekiel could hear what God shouted and has simply “The LORD cried with a loud voice.” The verb saying is also left implied in most languages, but others have kept it by saying “Then Yahweh cried out loudly. He said.”

Draw near, you executioners of the city: This clause has a number of possible meanings. The Hebrew noun rendered executioners comes from a root meaning “be in charge of,” “inspect,” “visit,” or “punish.” Here it appears to be an abstract noun meaning “punishments” (so Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), but since they each have a weapon, this sense is rather awkward. As a result, most versions have rendered it as a personal noun, for example, “those who are in charge” of the city (so New International Version, King James Version / New King James Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “those who are about to punish” the city (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie). Either one of these meanings fits this context. The sense of the Hebrew verb rendered Draw near is also uncertain. The verb may be a simple imperative (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, New King James Version , New American Standard Bible, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Bible en français courant), a causative imperative (so New International Version, King James Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (1982)), or a simple past (so Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). If it is a simple imperative, God is commanding the punishments or those who will inflict the punishment to come near and be ready to start. A rendering that expresses this is “Come here” (New Jerusalem Bible). If it is causative imperative, God is addressing some unidentified persons or angels to bring them near. A model that reflects this is “Have them come near” or “Bring them near.” If it is a simple present, God is declaring that the judgment has come and is ready to start. The Septuagint takes it in this third way, rendering this whole clause as “The judgment has come near the city.” However, most modern versions find it more attractive to read an imperative here because it sets the scene for the appearance of the six men in verse 2. On balance, the interpretation of the Septuagint is preferable, but fortunately, the overall meaning of the three alternatives differs little. The message of all three is that the judgment of the city was about to start. The city is Jerusalem. For some translators who choose to use the imperative, it is more natural to address the executioners before ordering them to approach. A model that does this is “Those of you who are meant to punish the city, come now.”

Each with his destroying weapon in his hand: Each punishment, or each man who will inflict the punishment, is to come with his destroying weapon, that is, a weapon for destroying. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (1982) identifies this weapon as a “sword,” but in verse 2 it is called literally “weapon of shattering/smashing.” It was more likely a club, so it is better to use a more general expression here, such as “deadly weapon” (New King James Version ) or “killing stick.” Some translations make this last phrase a separate sentence, saying “Each of you should have your weapon of destruction with you.”

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 .