Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.
Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites - distinct from Rabbath in Judah (2 Samuel 12:26). Rabbath is put first, as it was from her that Jerusalem, the doomed city, had borrowed many of her idols.
And to Judah in Jerusalem - instead of simply putting "Jerusalem," to imply the sword was to come not merely to Judah, but to its people within Jerusalem: "defensed" though it was, its defenses, on which the Jews relied so much, would not keep the foe out.