So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel: This verse in Hebrew is almost identical to 3.17 (see the comments there). God appoints Ezekiel again as a watchman for the Israelites, or perhaps he reminds him of the time that he previously appointed him as a watchman. So renders the Hebrew waw conjunction (literally “And”). Here it introduces God’s application of the watchman illustration to Ezekiel. Some translations render it “Now” (Good News Translation), while others omit it (so Contemporary English Version, New Century Version). The Hebrew pronoun for you is emphatic. NET Bible begins this verse with “As for you … I have made you a watchman…,” which is a helpful model. For son of man, see Ezek 33.2.

Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me: See 3.17.

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 .