“Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations (those outside of the covenant), Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, I have lifted up my hand, saying, Surely the nations who are round about you, they will bear their shame, but you, O mountains of Israel, you will shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they are at hand to come.”
The whole section from Ezekiel 36:3 to this point is one long expression of passion and concern. It was bringing out God's deep concern for His people, and how they had been treated by those who were not the rod of His anger. He could chastise them for their good, but woe betide anyone else who sought to chastise them for the wrong reasons. Now we come to the crunch point. Those nations will bear their shame as they have shamed Israel, while Israel will eventually be restored.
‘Behold I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury.' That is His deep passion and concern for His people and anger at the sinfulness of men who oppose them.
‘Because you have borne the shame of the nations (those outside of the covenant).' The word for ‘nations' includes the idea of being those outside the covenant. ‘The nations' were those who were in contrast with the chosen people, the covenant people of God. And now the local nations had shamed Israel by their treatment of her, by sneering at her, by degrading her God, and by possessing her land.
‘Surely the nations who are round about you, they will bear their shame.' What they have done to Israel will rebound on them. They too will be sneered at, their gods will be revealed as nothing, and their land will be taken from them.
‘But you, O mountains of Israel, you will shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they are at hand to come.' In contrast Israel's land, indeed Yahweh's land, will yet prosper and be fruitful on behalf of His own people Israel. For while they may yet be absent, they will return, ‘they are at hand to come'. They are nearby awaiting the call, once they have received their deserts for their past sins.