In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
Irony. They shall get their wish, in the sense that survivors shall be 'alone in the midst of the land,' for the land and the houses, however 'many' they be, shall be "without inhabitant."
In mine ears (said) the Lord of hosts. The Lord has revealed it to me in secret, as in Isaiah 22:14.
Of a truth (Hebrew, 'If not,' may I not be Yahweh: a solemn assertion) many houses shall be desolate - literally, a desolation; namely, on account of the national sins. Great and fair - houses.