And I will scatter you among the heathen. — They will not even be permitted to tarry among the ruins of their favoured places, but God Himself, who brings about the desolation, will disperse the surviving inhabitants far and wide.

And will draw out a sword after you. — To show how complete this dispersion is to be, God is represented with a drawn sword in His hand pursuing them and scattering them, so that both their land and every city in it should be denuded of them, and that there should be no possibility of any of them turning back. Thus the sword which God promised should not go through their land (see Leviticus 26:6) if they walk according to the Divine commandments, will now be wielded by Himself to bring about their utter dispersion from the land. A similar appalling scene is described by Jeremiah: “I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers hare known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them” (Jeremiah 9:16, with Jeremiah 42:16; Ezekiel 12:14).

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