“And I will bring you forth out of its midst and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you. You will fall by the sword. I will judge you in the border of Israel, and you will know that I am Yahweh. This city will not be your cauldron, nor will you be the flesh in its midst. I will judge you in the border of Israel.”
The cauldron of Jerusalem would not protect them. It would not be a cauldron to them, nor would they prosper as the flesh within it. Indeed they would not remain within it. Its walls will fall and they will be brought out and handed over to strangers, and then God's judgments will be carried out on them. Many will fall by the sword, and those who remain alive will be judged at the border of Israel. They will have deserted their so-called cauldron, a final derisory comment in the face for their proud claims.
The fulfilment of this came about when many of these people escaped from Jerusalem when its walls were breached, and were overtaken at the Jericho border (2 Kings 25:5), and those who remained alive were taken to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah on the northern border of the old Israel and there the leaders were slain (2 Kings 25:7; 2 Kings 25:21). The prophecy was rather one of certain defeat and humiliation than of detail. It would not be unusual for military headquarters to be set up in a safe border area preparatory for the invasion. And further rebellion would have ensured the final execution of its leaders. Once the capture of the city was accepted as a certainty the rest could easily be foreseen.
‘And you will know that I am Yahweh.' This is now amplified.