And say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: God gives Ezekiel another message for the Israelite leaders. This prophecy also opens with the traditional prophetic formula Thus says the Lord GOD (see Ezek 20.3). This repetition emphasizes the importance of the message.

On the day when I chose Israel: This clause begins a long sentence that continues until the end of the verse. Most languages will have to break the sentence up into smaller parts. On the day when I chose Israel focuses on the time when God called Israel into a covenant relationship. A good way to translate this clause is “At the time [or, When] I chose the people of Israel to be my people.” Although this really happened at Mount Sinai (see Exo 20; Deut 5), God says here that it happened when he sent Moses to lead the people out of Egypt and revealed to them his personal name, Yahweh (see Exo 3–4).

I swore to the seed of the house of Jacob: The Hebrew expression for I swore is literally “I lifted my hand,” which means God “made a solemn promise” (Contemporary English Version; similarly Good News Translation, New Century Version), not that he used bad language. Some translations reflect the Hebrew idiom of raising the right hand while swearing an oath, as happens in many law courts today; for example, King James Version says “lifted up mine hand,” and Revised English Bible has “with uplifted hand.” It is best not to try to retain the Hebrew gesture, but rather to give the meaning or use an equivalent local gesture for swearing an oath or making a promise. However, translators may retain the gesture and give the meaning by saying “I lifted up my hand to signify the promise I made.” The seed of the house of Jacob refers to the nation of Israel. The word seed means descendants in this context. The word house here does not refer to a building, but to the nation whose founding father was Jacob. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham; he is sometimes called Israel. Therefore one way to translate this phrase is “the members of the nation [or, tribe] of Israel.”

Making myself known to them in the land of Egypt: Making myself known to them involved telling them his name. Good News Translation and New American Bible say “I revealed myself to them” (similarly Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, Revised English Bible, Moffatt). This rendering can be misleading and imply that God appeared visibly, perhaps in a vision. If that is the case, a better model is “I told them who I am.” God told the Israelites his name when they were still slaves in Egypt.

I swore to them, saying, I am the LORD your God: By repeating I swore, God puts great stress on the solemn promise that he made to the Israelites. I am the LORD your God is the way God told the people his name. The LORD renders his name “Yahweh,” so this clause may be expressed as “I am Yahweh your God” or “I am Yahweh. I am the God you worship.”

Models for God’s words in this verse to the Israelite leaders are:

• I chose the people of Israel to be my people. When they were still in Egypt, I told them my name. I made a very strong promise to them. I said to them, “I am Yahweh, your God.”

• When I chose the people of Israel to be my people, I made a very strong promise to all the members of the tribe of Israel. While they were still in Egypt, I told them who I am. I said to them, “I am Yahweh, your God.”

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 .