Ezekiel 36:2 (ASV)

Passage

Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha! and, The ancient high places are ours in possession;

Nearby Context

Ezekiel 36:1 And thou, son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of Jehovah.

Ezekiel 36:2 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha! and, The ancient high places are ours in possession;

Ezekiel 36:3 therefore prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the nations, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;

Ezekiel 36:4 therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which are become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are round about;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thus", "saith", "lord", "jehovah", "enemy", "hath", "said", and "against". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thus" and "saith", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 1's "And thou son of man prophesy unto..." into verse 3's "therefore prophesy and say Thus saith the...", so "thus" and "saith" belong inside that flow. In Ezekiel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "thus" and "saith" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.