For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon - though thou art as beautiful as Gilead, and as majestic in mine eyes (before me) as the summit of Lebanon, yet surely (the Hebrew is a formula of swearing to express certainly х 'im (H518) lo' (H3808)] - literally, If I do not make thee, etc., believe me not ever hereafter: so "as truly as I live," Numbers 14:28 (in Hebrew, Numbers 14:27); "surely," Numbers 14:35 (in Hebrew, Numbers 14:34), etc). The mention of Gilead may allude not only to its past beauty, but covertly also to its desolation by the judgment on Israel-a warning now to Judah and the house of David. "Lebanon" is appropriately mentioned, as the king's house was built of its noble cedars.
I will make thee ... cities ... not inhabited - not other cites, but the different parts of the city of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 12:27; 2 Kings 10:25, in both which passages "city" is used for a part of the city: Joab had evidently taken but one part of the city of Rabbah, and desired David to come and take the whole city: and "the city of the house of Baal" means that part of the city in which the house of Baal was situated) (Maurer).