And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.
Say unto the people of the land - the Jews in "the land" of Chaldea, who thought themselves miserable as being exiles, and envied the Jews left in Jerusalem as fortunate.
Thus saith the Lord God ... of the land of Israel - contrasted with "the people in the land" of Chaldea. So far from being fortunate as the exiles in Chaldea regarded them, the Jews in Jerusalem are truly miserable, for the worst is before them, whereas the exiles have escaped the miseries of the coming siege.
That her land may be desolate from all that is therein - literally, 'that the land (namely, Judea) may be despoiled of the fullness thereof;' emptied of the inhabitants and abundance of flocks and grain with which it was filled.
Because of the violence - (Psalms 107:34).