After the long list of the girl’s (Jerusalem’s) sins, now comes the judgment. The conjunction Wherefore shows that the following punishment is the result of the sins listed in the previous verses. Other possible connectors here are “Now then” (Good News Translation, New King James Version ) and “Therefore” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, New American Standard Bible, New American Bible).

O harlot: For the first time God calls the girl a “prostitute” (Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Living Translation, New Century Version) or “whore” (Good News Translation, New Jerusalem Bible). Many translators will follow the text by saying “you prostitute!” but others will find Good News Translation helpful, which has “Jerusalem, you whore!” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

Hear the word of the LORD is a traditional introduction to a prophecy, although here it introduces God’s judgment on Jerusalem and Judah. For those languages in which it is awkward to have God speaking of himself in the third person, they may say “Listen to what I, Yahweh, say.”

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 .