Dig through the wall in their sight: To make the symbolism of going into exile as a prisoner of war even stronger, God tells Ezekiel to dig a hole through the wall of his house. In Babylonia, where the people lived in houses made of dried mud bricks, this was quite easy—Ezekiel was able to do it just with his hands (see Ezek 12.7). This action depicted the broken-down walls of Jerusalem through which the Jews went when the Babylonians took them as prisoners. In their sight means while people were watching (see verses 3-4). A good model for this clause is “Dig a hole through the wall [of your house] while people are watching.”

And go out through it: Revised Standard Version changes the Hebrew text here to make sense of Ezekiel’s actions (so also New American Standard Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Some translations make this same change in verses 6, 7, and 12. The Hebrew has “and carry [the baggage] out through it,” even though verse 4 implies that the baggage was already outside the house. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends that translators follow the Hebrew, so the best translation is “and take your things [or, baggage] out through it.” We must presume that Ezekiel placed his basket of belongings outside the door of his house sometime during the afternoon. Then, when evening came, he picked it up again and carried it out through the hole in the wall. This interpretation avoids the need to change the Hebrew text.

Good News Translation provides a good model for this verse, and so does Contemporary English Version with “Dig through the wall of your house and crawl out, carrying the bag with you. Make sure everyone is watching.”

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 .