The judgment facing the remnant of the people who fled to Egypt is one of absolute ruin and lasting historical disgrace. God's decree of destruction is not arbitrary, but rather precisely focused on intent and consequence, targeting those who journeyed to Egypt on their own initiative with the clear and deliberate intention of settling there permanently.
As [מלבי״ם] explains, the people were actually divided into two distinct groups. One faction consisted of military leaders and rebellious individuals who actively desired to make Egypt their permanent home. The second group was made up of people who were dragged along against their will by these leaders, while secretly holding onto the hope of eventually returning to the land of Judah. The severe judgment is intentionally aimed at the first group, who actively chose this path and embraced Egypt as their destination.
They will be swept away toward disaster and misfortune [מצודת דוד]. Their fate is complete elimination, ensuring that the entire group will perish entirely [מצודות, ביאור שטיינזלץ].
The manner of their destruction defies the usual patterns of warfare. Typically, as [מלבי״ם] notes, during a conflict, the powerful and the warriors are the ones killed in battle, but they usually manage to avoid starvation because they have the means to secure food. Conversely, the poor and the weak are the ones who starve, but they generally escape the sword because they are not on the front lines fighting. In this judgment, however, those distinctions are completely erased. The great and the small will suffer the exact same fate, with both groups dying by sword and by famine alike, leaving absolutely no avenue for escape.
Beyond their physical demise, the memory of these people will become a permanent symbol of humiliation. Their ruin will be so profound that their very name will be used as a standard for curses; when people want to make a solemn oath or curse someone, they will point to this group as the ultimate example of a tragic fate. Furthermore, the sheer magnitude of their downfall will leave observers in a state of absolute shock and astonishment [מצודות].