Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD: In this verse Ezekiel continues to give God’s message to the mountains of Israel. The connector therefore introduces this additional message as a response to what Israel’s enemies had done to them. For mountains of Israel and hear the word of the Lord GOD, see Ezek 36.1.

Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains and the hills, the ravines and the valleys, the desolate wastes and the deserted cities: For Thus says the Lord GOD, see Ezek 36.2. The mountains and the hills are the higher and lower hills (see 6.3). The ravines are “the streams” (New English Bible) that carved out valleys in the mountains, and the valleys are the low places between the mountains (see 6.3). For the Hebrew word rendered desolate wastes, see the comments on 5.14, where it is translated “desolation.” Here it refers to the places in Israel that were destroyed. New Century Version says “empty ruins.” The deserted cities refers to the towns that no one lived in any more.

Which have become a prey and derision to the rest of the nations round about: This clause describes the whole list in the previous clause, not just the deserted cities. The whole land of Israel became a prey, that is, booty, the valuable goods that soldiers in a victorious army take from the people they defeat in war (see 7.21), for the neighboring nations. It also became a derision, that is, a “mockery” (New King James Version , New American Bible, Christian Community Bible) or “laughing-stock” (Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), to its neighbors. The rest of the nations round about refers to the nations near Israel (compare verse 3). In many languages it will be easier to use verbs instead of nouns prey and derision; for example, New International Reader’s Version renders this clause as “The rest of the nations around you took everything of value away from you. They made fun of you.” Other possible verbs in place of derision are “laughed at” (New Century Version), “ridiculed” (New International Version), and “insulted” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

A model for this verse is:

• ‘Therefore, you mountains of Israel, listen to what the Lord Yahweh says to you. Yahweh speaks to you mountains, hills, valleys, and ravines of Israel. He speaks to you deserted cities and other ruined places. The nations around you took everything of value away from you, and they laughed at 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 .