For Son of man (International Children’s Bible “Human being”),

Set your face toward the Ammonites: For set your face toward, see 6.2. Here this phrase may be rendered “look toward” (New Century Version), “turn toward” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), or “face in the direction of.” It probably includes the idea of an aggressive stance or stare. The Ammonites lived in the country of Ammon, east of the Jordan River. It was the country that Nebuchadnezzar nearly attacked instead of Jerusalem (see 21.18-22). The Ammonites is literally “the sons [or, children] of Ammon” (New American Standard Bible), which may be rendered “the people of Ammon” (Contemporary English Version) or “the country of Ammon” (Good News Translation). It is clear that God is thinking of the whole country throughout verses 2-5, because almost every second person pronoun referring to the Ammonites in this section is feminine singular in Hebrew.

And prophesy against them means Ezekiel must give God’s message of warning to the Ammonites (see 4.7). Some translations put together the ideas of set your face toward and prophesy against (so Good News Translation with “denounce” and Contemporary English Version with “condemn”). However, if it is not unnatural, translators should retain the two expressions; for example, a model of the whole verse that does this is:

• “Mortal man, look toward the country of Ammon and announce what I am saying against the people there.

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 .