The impending punishment for the remaining people extends far beyond physical harm, transforming them into a living symbol of ruin and a curse in the minds of the surrounding nations. Disaster will pursue them relentlessly until they become a universal warning sign and an object of mockery wherever they seek refuge.
This severe punishment begins with physical affliction. God will actively pursue the people, striking them down in every place they go [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This pursuit will be particularly evident when they later attempt to flee to Egypt [מלבי״ם], where they will be met with the enemy's sword, famine, and devastating plagues [מצודת דוד].
Beyond the physical toll, their fate involves total destruction and deep public humiliation. God will deliver them into the hands of all the earthly kingdoms, leaving them in a constant state of horror, trembling, and shaking, as everyone around them will cause them terror [מצודת דוד, מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. They will be reduced to a literal curse and an oath. Other nations will point to them as the ultimate negative example, making oaths by swearing that they should suffer the fate of those miserable Jews if they break their word [מצודת דוד, מצודת ציון, ביאור שטיינזלץ].
The sheer scale of the devastation will leave onlookers in a state of complete astonishment [מצודת דוד, מצודת ציון]. Observers will react with a sharp whistle, a natural human response of shock when witnessing something once important completely destroyed and lost [מצודת ציון, מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Throughout this ordeal, the foreign nations will deeply despise and insult them [רש״י, מצודת דוד].
The prophecy concludes by addressing the places where God will drive them out [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Even though the warning is framed as if this banishment has already occurred, it points to a guaranteed future reality, since the remnant of Jerusalem had not yet been exiled at that time [רד״ק, מצודת דוד]. Those who remain in the land are destined to be driven out, and their eventual departure into exile will be defined entirely by disgrace rather than honor [ביאור שטיינזלץ].