I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
Fruitful place - Hebrew, the Carmel.
A wilderness - Hebrew, 'the wilderness,' in contrast to "the fruitful place;" the great desert; where there was Carmel - i:e., all the fruitfulness such as it had, there is now the desert of Arabia, waste barrenness, such as is in the great desert of Arabia (Maurer).
Cities - in contradistinction to the fruitful place or field.