“Yet I will leave a remnant in that you will have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you shall be scattered through the countries. And they who escape of you will remember me among the nations to which they will be carried captives, how that I have been broken with their whorish heart which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols. And they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. And they will know that I am Yahweh. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”
God's mercy still reached through His judgments. There would be those who survived, captives scattered among the countries, and then they would remember Yahweh and recognise what they have done to Him (see also Ezekiel 12:16; Ezekiel 14:22).
‘How that I have been broken with their whorish heart which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols.' These words remind us that God was affected by their evil behaviour. The attitudes of their hearts and the direction of the gaze of their eyes, turned from Him to idols, had ‘broken' Yahweh. Compare Jeremiah 23:9 where the prophet's heart was broken because of the behaviour of the people towards God (see also Jeremiah 8:21; Psalms 34:18; Psalms 51:17; Psalms 69:20; Psalms 147:3; Isaiah 61:1; Ezekiel 34:4; Ezekiel 34:16). The idea is of being shattered or crushed by something. God was not unaffected by their behaviour although we must not interpret it too literally. He pictures Himself as ‘crushed'. It is an anthropomorphism.
The versions alter the words to ‘I have broken' but that does not fit well with ‘eyes' and was probably because the translators did not like to think of God as ‘broken'.
‘And they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.' The result of considering what they had done to Yahweh would make them realise their extreme sinfulness, and they would loathe themselves and how they had behaved (compare Ezekiel 18:13). This indeed was God's final aim in His judgments. Nothing else would have brought them to their senses (see Ezekiel 14:23).
‘And they will know that I am Yahweh. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.' It would also bring home to them Who and What Yahweh is, that He is the One Who carries out His purposes and His promises. And that includes His promises of judgment on evil behaviour. They had continued to ignore Him, except perfunctorily, and now they were reaping what they had sown.
As Jesus warned in His day our danger is different, it is of the worship of the great god Mammon. Jesus warned, ‘you cannot serve God and Mammon' (Matthew 6:24). In many countries today the god Mammon (symbolising a craving for wealth and prosperity), together with his female counterpart Sex, determine people's lifestyles and behaviour. They worship at their altars, and ignore their Creator and His demands. They too will one day be called to give account, for God's anger is levelled against them as well. Wealth, prosperity and sex are God given gifts, to be used wisely and rightly, but when they control our lives and solely determine our way of living they become idols (as can sport, music, strong drink, television and pop idols and so on).