And all the pick of his troops shall fall by the sword: Instead of all the pick of his troops, the Hebrew has “all his fugitives among all his bands of soldiers.” The meaning of the Hebrew word for “fugitives” is uncertain because it only occurs here in the Old Testament. The root of the word seems to mean “to flee,” so many translations have rendered it “fugitives” (King James Version / New King James Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version footnotes) or “fleeing” (New International Version; similarly Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Revised Standard Version follows some Hebrew manuscripts that have a slightly different word that has the same letters but in a different order. This word comes from the root meaning “to choose” and its meaning (“his chosen ones”) fits well here. Models of the whole phrase that follow this reading are “all the picked troops in his army” (similarly Revised English Bible, Moffatt) and “all the best soldiers in his army” (similarly Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version, Bible en français courant). It is difficult to decide which of these readings is better; translators may follow either one. Fall by the sword means they will be killed in war (see the comments on 5.12).

And the survivors shall be scattered to every wind: Those who escape being killed in the war will be scattered in every direction. For scattered to every wind, see 5.10. Those languages that do not use passives may identify God as agent here, that is, God will scatter the survivors. Alternatively, translators may render this clause and the previous one as “His enemies will kill in battle all the best soldiers in his army. Those who survive will flee in every direction.”

And you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken: The theme of recognizing and acknowledging God by what he does reappears, but here it says that God’s actions in punishing Zedekiah will prove to the people that this prophecy was true, because God himself spoke it. This recognition formula closes the explanation of the story of the eagles and the vine. The conjunction and may be rendered “Then” (Good News Translation, New International Version) or “Thereby.” The pronoun you refers to Ezekiel’s audience. This whole sentence may be rendered “Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken” or “Then you will know that it is I, Yahweh, who spoke to you.”

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 .