6:13 Because of these sins the Lord promised to make His people sick, downtrodden, and desolate.
6:14 They would continue to eat, but their food would not bring them satisfaction (cf. Lev. 26:26). Their excessive accumulation of things would result in more garbage and waste products that they would have difficulty getting rid of. They would try to keep safe what they had bought, but they would not be able to do so, and what they did lock away would only become the property of invading soldiers eventually (cf. Lev. 26:16-17; Deut. 28:30). The Lord was repeating the curses for covenant unfaithfulness listed in the Mosaic Code.
6:15 They would sow seed, but they would not reap a harvest because the Lord would not bless the land with rain and cause the crops to grow (cf. Deut. 28:30). They would harvest and press their olive crops, but there would be so little product that they would not even be able to anoint themselves with oil. Similarly their grape harvests would be so small that they would produce too little wine to drink (cf. Deut. 28:39-40; Amos 5:11).
6:16 The people of Judah were living like their brethren in Israel who followed the instructions of the wicked Israelite kings Omri, Ahab, and their descendants. This group of Israel's kings constituted some of the worst in the history of the Northern Kingdom largely because of their idolatry and unjust oppression of the weak (cf. 1 Kings 16:21-22:40).40Because of this wickedness Yahweh promised to turn the residents of Jerusalem over to destruction. Even though they were His people they would become objects of horror and scorn by other nations.
"Loss of reputation is ever the final indignity which rubs salt into the wounds of suffering."41
