Thus says the Lord GOD: This traditional prophetic formula gives weight to the following words by stressing that they are the words of God and calls attention to the importance of the message. Lord renders the Hebrew word ʾadonai, and GOD renders “Yahweh” (YHWH in Hebrew). New Century Version renders this clause as “This is what the Lord GOD says.”

Because the enemy said of you, ‘Aha!’: The connector Because introduces a reason for listening to God’s message in the following verses. The enemy may refer to the neighboring countries, Edom and Ammon, both of whom were very happy when Jerusalem was destroyed (see 25.3; 35.15). The Hebrew word rendered Aha expresses the malicious joy of someone who is glad at the misfortune of others (see the comments on 25.3). New Jerusalem Bible renders this clause well by saying “Since the enemy has gloated over you by saying: Aha!” (similarly Good News Translation, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Moffatt). Some translations take it to refer to slightly different attitudes; for example, they use the verb “sneered” (Contemporary English Version), “insulted” (Jerusalem Bible), “made fun of” (New International Reader’s Version), or “boasted over” (Revised English Bible). However, these attitudes are less likely here.

And ‘The ancient heights have become our possession’: This is the reason why Israel’s enemies were so happy, namely, they thought they would be able to take over the land of Israel for themselves. The Hebrew phrase rendered ancient heights is a poetic expression for the land of Israel, which was full of mountains and hills. It is best to use an expression that retains some of the picture here, for example, “very old hills of Israel.” However, some translations think that the Hebrew word for ancient refers in some way to the relationship of the land with the people; for example, New International Reader’s Version renders The ancient heights as “The hills you lived in for a long time,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “The mountains that were promised to the Israelites to possess for all time.” These interpretations are less likely.

In some languages it is not natural to begin God’s message to Israel’s mountains with the connector Because. If so, this verse may be rendered as follows:

• This is what the Lord Yahweh says: Your enemy gloated and said that the ancient hills of Israel were now theirs. Because they did that….

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 .