There are some hidden difficulties of interpretation in these two verses. The notes that follow will deal first with the interpretation of Revised Standard Version and the majority of translations. After that two different interpretations will be discussed.

Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth in the day of your pride…?: This is a rhetorical question, so it may be reworded as a strong statement (so Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation). A byword in your mouth is literally “a report in your mouth.” This phrase refers to the way the people of Jerusalem talked about Sodom as the ultimate example of wickedness. Many translations imply that this talk was sneering (Contemporary English Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), joking (Good News Translation), gloating (New Jerusalem Bible), or contemptuous of Sodom (New Living Translation, Revised English Bible). This may be true because this talk occurred in the day of your pride, that is, before the fall of Jerusalem, when the city was prosperous and secure, and the people were confident that they would never be defeated. In that environment it was easy for people to feel arrogant and sneer at those who had been punished. But it is also possible for a byword in your mouth to have a neutral sense of Sodom being a useful example to show what happens to sinners, but without any contempt being involved. Models of verse 56 that do this are “Do you remember how you talked about Sodom when you were proud?” and “You used to talk about Sodom when you were so proud of yourselves.” Either interpretation is acceptable.

Before your wickedness was uncovered refers to the time before Nebuchadnezzar defeated Jerusalem and took many of the people into Babylonia as prisoners. Your wickedness was uncovered is an unusual expression, so some translations change the Hebrew text here to read “your nakedness was uncovered” (so Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt). This involves a small change that fits the sexual tone of the chapter well. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends that it is best to follow the Hebrew text here. In some languages this clause will need to be expressed with the active voice and an agent, as in “before everyone was able to see how wicked you were.” Although this clause is part of the rhetorical question that begins in the previous verse, it may be better to begin a new sentence here, such as “That was before everyone learned how wicked you really are” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

Now you have become like her an object of reproach … means Jerusalem has replaced Sodom now as the ultimate example of wickedness and sin because of her sinfulness. An object of reproach is something to be ashamed of (see 5.14). Here it is an example of sin that is used to warn others to change their ways. The daughters of Edom and all her neighbors, and … the daughters of the Philistines, those round about who despise you looked at Jerusalem as the ultimate example of sin. Daughters here means “women” (New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible) or, more generally, “people.” Edom was a country just southeast of Jerusalem that was an enemy of the people of Jerusalem at the time of Ezekiel (compare 25.12-14; 35.2-15; 36.5). Edom’s neighbors were probably the people who lived around Edom, for example, the Moabites and the Ammonites (compare 25.1). The Philistines, who lived to the southwest of Jerusalem, were also enemies of Jerusalem (compare 25.15-17). Those round about who despise you may refer only to the Philistines, but it may also refer to all the countries mentioned here, and perhaps others also. Despise may be rendered “hate” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Century Version) or “look down on.” A possible model for this whole sentence is “Now the people of Edom, Philistia, and all your other neighbors who hate you, look at you with contempt just the way they do at the people of Sodom.”

Although many translations and some Hebrew manuscripts read Edom in this verse, the best Hebrew text reads “Aram” (New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh footnote), which is the same country as “Syria” (Contemporary English Version, King James Version / New King James Version footnote). In Hebrew the difference between the two words rests on two very similar letters (“d” and “r”), which scribes often confused when they were copying texts (see the comments on 6.14). Edom seems to fit the context better because Syria was not an enemy of Jerusalem at this time, but because it is in the best Hebrew text, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends that translators use “Aram.”

A model for combining verses 56-57 according to the interpretation of Revised Standard Version and most other translations is:

• While you were still a proud and confident city, before your own wickedness was revealed for all to see [or, before all could see how wicked you were], you had your sister’s name, Sodom, on your lips as a byword, didn’t you? Now, just like her, you are the one that the Edomites, the Philistines, and all your other neighbors who hate you, talk about with shame.

This interpretation fits the context very well, but there are two problems that need to be examined. First, the rhetorical question at the beginning of these verses may in fact be a statement in the Hebrew text. Second, the first Revised Standard Version footnote shows that the meaning of the Hebrew in part of verse 57 is uncertain. Both of these points can change the translation significantly.

New International Version, King James Version, New King James Version , and New American Standard Bible treat verse 56 as a statement instead of a rhetorical question. The meaning then is quite the opposite of that in Revised Standard Version. As a statement, it means “You did not even mention [or, talk about] your sister Sodom,” but as a rhetorical question it means “You [often] talked about your sister Sodom, didn’t you?”

The difficulty in verse 57 results from a grammatical uncertainty in the Hebrew. Instead of like her an object of reproach for the daughters of Edom, the Hebrew seems to read literally “like the time of the reproach of the daughters of Aram.” King James Version translates this phrase as “as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria,” and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends “as in the time of the shame of the daughters of Aram.” Although Hebrew Old Testament Text Project‘s model is difficult to understand, it appears closer to the Hebrew than the Revised Standard Version rendering. Provided that “the shame of the daughters of Aram” refers to shame that Jerusalem feels when the other countries look at her or talk about her (which King James Version makes clear with the pronoun “thy”), it is an acceptable interpretation.

The following combined model of verses 56-57 retains the rhetorical question, but follows the Hebrew more closely in verse 57:

• While you were still a proud and confident city, before your own wickedness was revealed for all to see, did you not have your sister’s name, Sodom, on your lips as a byword, just like the time that you were the one that the Arameans, the Philistines, and all your other neighbors who hate you, talked about with shame?

In this model God is telling the people of Jerusalem that the neighboring countries saw her as the ultimate example of sin in just the same way as the people of Jerusalem used to see Sodom as the ultimate example of sin. This shows that the people of Jerusalem were just as bad as they had ever thought that Sodom was.

This next model abandons the rhetorical question and follows the Hebrew closely in verse 57:

• While you were still a proud and confident city, before your own wickedness was revealed for all to see, your sister’s name, Sodom, was not even on your lips as a byword in the way that yours was at the time when you were the one that the Arameans, the Philistines, and all your other neighbors who hate you, talked about with shame.

In this model God tells the people of Jerusalem that their enemies saw them as the ultimate example of sin in a way that they themselves did not even consider Sodom. This shows how much worse than Sodom they were, because for the Biblical writers Sodom was without doubt the ultimate example of sin.

There is no way of deciding which of these three models is preferable. But in the context of the whole chapter, it is probably best to follow either the first model (based on Revised Standard Version) or the last one (without the rhetorical question). Both of these models fit well with the message that Jerusalem is worse than Sodom, as God has been saying since verse 47.

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 .