“And the gathering (of men) will stone them with stones, and despatch them with swords. They will slay their sons and their daughters and burn their houses with fire.”
The gathering of men turn out to be the approaching enemy. Their end is near. There is a multiple implication here. Stoning with stones was the fate decreed for an adulteress (Deuteronomy 22:21-24). and for an idolater (Deuteronomy 13:10; Deuteronomy 17:5; Leviticus 20:2; Numbers 14:10). It was also the means by which a besieged city was attacked with missiles. All three applied to Samaria and Jerusalem. The despatching with swords then follows the missile attacks, followed by slaughter and destructive fire. The ‘sons and daughters' refer to the people of Jerusalem and Samaria and the attached villages. It had already happened to Samaria, now it would happen to Jerusalem.