Therefore prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Because you have been desolate, and trodden under foot on every side, and made an inheritance to the rest of the nations, and are become the subject of the talk, and the reproach of the people:
Ezekiel 36:1 And thou son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say: Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord:
Ezekiel 36:2 Thus saith the Lord God: Because the enemy hath said to you: Aha, the everlasting heights are given to us for an inheritance.
Ezekiel 36:3 Therefore prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Because you have been desolate, and trodden under foot on every side, and made an inheritance to the rest of the nations, and are become the subject of the talk, and the reproach of the people:
Ezekiel 36:4 Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the brooks, and to the valleys, and to desolate places, and ruinous walls, and to the cities that are forsaken, that are spoiled, and derided by the rest of the nations round about.
Ezekiel 36:5 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: In the fire of my zeal I have spoken of the rest of the nations, and of all Edom, who have taken my land to themselves, for an inheritance with joy, and with all the heart, and with the mind: and have cast it out to lay it waste.
The verse centers on "therefore", "prophesy", "thus", "saith", "lord", "been", "desolate", and "trodden". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "therefore" and "prophesy", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 2's "Thus saith the Lord God Because the..." into verse 4's "Therefore ye mountains of Israel hear the...", so "therefore" and "prophesy" 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 "therefore" and "prophesy" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.