²⁵ I will bring a sword against you^(A) to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a pestilence among you, and you will be delivered into enemy hands.

¹² A third of your people will die by plague and be consumed by famine within you;^(A) a third will fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter a third to every direction of the wind, and I will draw a sword to chase after them.^(B)

³ and say to it: This is what the Lord says: I am against you.^(A) I will draw My sword from its sheath and cut off both the righteous and the wicked from you. ⁴ Since I will cut off^[a] both the righteous and the wicked, My sword will therefore come out of its sheath against everyone from the south to the north.^(B)