Its strongest stem became a ruler’s scepter; it towered aloft among the thick boughs: There is a grammatical problem in these lines that has resulted in at least three different interpretations. In Hebrew they read literally “Strong branches became for her [that is, the vine] rulers’ scepters, and its height became very high above among the thick branches.” The difficulty lies in the Hebrew pronoun for “its,” which is masculine singular. What does it refer to? The Hebrew word for “vine,” which is feminine, is the wrong gender, and although the first word for “branches” is masculine, it is plural. There are four possible ways of making sense of these lines:

(1) The vine grew strong branches and one of these grew very high (so Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).
(2) The vine grew strong branches and the vine grew very high (so Good News Translation).
(3) The vine grew a very strong branch and it [the branch] grew very high (so Revised Standard Version).
(4) The vine grew a very strong branch and it [the vine] grew very high (so New American Bible).

The first suggestion follows the Hebrew in the first line but puts considerable strain on the pronoun “its.” It may be influenced by the historical situation where the very high branch refers to Zedekiah. The second suggestion also follows the Hebrew closely until it applies the masculine pronoun for “its” to the feminine vine. Such a change in gender is possible in Hebrew, although it would be strange here because it reverts to feminine in verse 12. The third suggestion takes the plural word “branches” in the first line as an intensive expression in which the plural form shows that the object is exceptional in some way (for example, the strongest stem in Revised Standard Version). The Hebrew word for “branches” is singular in verses 12 and 14 (rendered “stem”). The fourth suggestion is a mixture of numbers 2 and 3. Most translations follow number 2 (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Century Version, King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant), but numbers 1 and 3 are equally possible as models for translators.

A ruler’s scepter is literally “scepters of rulers” (New King James Version , New American Standard Bible; similarly Good News Translation), but Revised Standard Version uses the singular expression to agree with Its strongest stem. A scepter is a stick that a king carries as a symbol of his authority, so, translators may say “rod [or, stick] that a king carries.” Here it can be understood as an image for a person who has authority as a king. It is best to keep the imagery, but if that is not possible, became a ruler’s scepter may be rendered “became a king.” Towered aloft may be translated “grew higher and higher” (New Jerusalem Bible). It towered aloft among the thick boughs may mean the branch or vine grew up through the thick, interwoven branches or “foliage” (New International Version, Revised English Bible) of the surrounding trees, or it was taller than the surrounding trees (so Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Bible en français courant). The Hebrew word for thick boughs is often confused with the word for “clouds” (so Good News Translation, New American Standard Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Septuagint). The confusion probably arose because, in the context of talking about the tops of tall trees, translators could easily make a mistake and think of the clouds. Although Hebrew Old Testament Text Project suggests that either “clouds” or thick boughs is acceptable, the latter is preferable.

It was seen in its height means the branch or vine was so tall that it was “conspicuous” (New International Version, Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), everyone could see it.

With the mass of its branches: The branch or vine had grown so well that it had many branches.

Models that follow respectively each of the first three interpretations mentioned above are:

• The vine grew strong branches
that became sticks that show the authority of kings [or, that became kings].
One of these branches grew very tall,
taller than all the other trees.
Everyone could see it because it was so tall,
and they saw that it had many branches.

• The vine grew strong branches
that became sticks that show the authority of kings [or, that became kings].
Then the vine grew very tall,
taller than all the other trees.
Everyone could see it because it was so tall,
and they saw that it had many branches.

• The vine grew a very strong branch,
strong enough to be a stick that shows the authority of a king [or, strong enough to be a king].
This branch grew very tall,
taller than all the other trees.
Everyone could see it because it was so tall,
and they saw that it had many branches.

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 .