And I will not let you hear any more the reproach of the nations does not mean that Israel will not hear the insults that the other nations are saying. Rather, it means that the other nations will no longer be making these insults, because God will restore Israel totally. For the reproach of the nations, see Ezek 36.6. Translators may render this clause as “You will no longer hear other nations mocking you.” New International Reader’s Version has “You will not have to listen to the nations laughing at you anymore.”

And you shall no longer bear the disgrace of the peoples: In this context the Hebrew word for disgrace means “shame” (New Century Version) and “humiliation.” The peoples refers to the foreign nations who were making Israel feel ashamed. Contemporary English Version renders this clause as “you won’t hear other nations … sneer at you ever again” (similarly Good News Translation), and New International Reader’s Version has “People will no longer make fun of you.” These renderings lose the sense of the recipients feeling ashamed. A better way to express this clause is “No longer will you feel ashamed in front of the other nations.”

And no longer cause your nation to stumble refers to the way the mountains earlier caused the nation of Israel to be destroyed, and God promises that he will never allow them to do so again. This clause may be rendered “You will no longer be the reason that enemies destroy your country [or, Israel].” Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew text here (so also New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New International Reader’s Version, New Living Translation, King James Version / New King James Version, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Hebrew Old Testament Text Project), but other translations change the Hebrew text to read “and bereave your nation of children” (so Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Moffatt, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). For this textual problem see the comments on the previous verse. We prefer the changed reading here. A model that reflects this reading is “You will never again cause your people’s children to die.”

For says the Lord GOD, see verse 14.

A model for this verse is:

• Other nations will never again insult you. You will not be ashamed in front of them again. You will never again take away your people’s children [or, You will never again cause your nation to fall]. This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare.”

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 .