And when I passed by you: There is no hint of where God was going or where he had come from. Therefore translators will need to be as general as possible. This clause may be rendered “When I was walking along the road, I went past you.”

And saw you weltering in your blood: Weltering means the little baby was lying on its back, kicking its legs, flailing its arms, and wriggling its body. This verb may also be rendered “kicking about” (New International Version, New Century Version; similarly New Living Translation, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible), “flailing about” (New Revised Standard Version), “wriggling” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), or “squirming” (Good News Translation). In your blood refers to the blood of the birth process, as if the baby had just been born. Thus the blood was not just the baby’s own blood, but it included the mother’s blood as well. The form of the Hebrew word for blood carries the idea of ritual uncleanness, as described in the rules about childbirth in Lev 12.4-5, so King James Version renders this clause as “and saw thee polluted in thine own blood.” Translators do not need to stress this point, because in verse 22 the normal word for “blood” is used, but it would be wise to specify that your blood means “the blood of your birth.”

I said to you in your blood, ‘Live: Three issues face translators in this sentence. First, they must decide the extent of God’s words to the child. Most translations follow Revised Standard Version and take in your blood as simply restating the situation the baby was in; for example, New International Version has “and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, ‘Live!’ ” Since this phrase repeats previous information, some translations omit it totally (so New Century Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or in part (so New Living Translation). Other translations take in your blood as part of what God said; for example, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “I said to you: ‘Live in spite of your blood’ ” (similarly Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant). Although it is difficult to decide, the Hebrew seems to suggest that these words should be part of the quotation.

Second, if translators follow this recommendation, they must decide between three alternate meanings for the quotation as follows: (1) Revised English Bible has “I decreed that you should continue to live in your blood,” which states that the child will continue to live in her unfortunate situation, at least until she has grown up (see Ezek 16.9). In the context of the story, this interpretation seems very unusual because an abandoned baby needs to be cleaned and cared for, or it will die. (2) New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “Live in spite of your blood” (similarly Bible en français courant), which focuses more on the terrible situation that the child is in, that is, she is about to die and is ritually unclean. This gives a strong contrast to God’s command for her to live. Taken this way, it may be rendered “Covered in blood as you are, I tell you to live,” “Although you are uncared for, dirty and ritually unclean, you will live,” or “Although you are about to die, you will live.” Good News Translation follows this interpretation, but uses indirect discourse, saying “You were covered with blood, but I wouldn’t let you die” (similarly Contemporary English Version). (3) Some scholars have interpreted the quotation in the light of ancient Near Eastern customs and understand it as a formal declaration of adoption. In this case translators may omit the reference to blood and use instead some formal term of adoption; for example, they may say “I will make you live and you will be my adopted child.” It is best to follow option 2 or 3 here.

The third issue is hidden by many translations. In the Hebrew text the words rendered I said to you in your blood, ‘Live appear twice (so King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Most translators omit the second occurrence because they assume that those who copied the manuscripts accidentally repeated the sentence or that the repetition adds nothing to the meaning. If it is part of the original text, it may be understood as providing emphasis. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends that translators retain it in their translations. Models for the repeated sentence are “That’s right, I said to you, ‘Covered in blood as you are, I tell you to live’ ” and “That’s right, I told you that covered in blood as you are you should live.” Nevertheless, if the repetition is clumsy in a language, it is acceptable to omit it.

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 .