Then he said to me: God responds to Ezekiel’s question by pointing out again the sins of his people. Good News Translation provides a good model here, saying “God answered.”

The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great: For the Hebrew word ʿawon rendered guilt, see the comments on 4.4-5, where it is translated “punishment.” Here it can mean either “sin” (so New International Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) or “guilt” felt as a result of sin. The sense of “sin” is more likely here. The expression the house of Israel and Judah is unusual in Ezekiel, because this book usually has “the house of Israel” or “the house of Judah,” which both refer to all the remaining people of Israel (see the comments on 4.4-6). Here God puts them together to emphasize that the whole nation had sinned and will be punished. Their sin is exceedingly great means they sinned very much. This clause may be rendered “The people of Israel and Judah are guilty of enormous wrong.” New Living Translation says “The sins of the people of Israel and Judah are very, very great.”

The land is full of blood means the people committed murders throughout the land of Judah (see 7.23).

And the city full of injustice means there was “corruption” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) throughout the city of Jerusalem. The Hebrew word for injustice comes from a root that means “bend, turn, make a thing crooked.” It refers to the perverted justice of the rulers of Judah and the way they bent the law for their own benefit and mistreated the poor. New Century Version renders this clause as “and the city is full of people who are not fair.” Another possible model is “and in the city the powerful people treat everyone unjustly.”

For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see’: See the comments on 8.12.

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 .