(25) That shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant.--Better, that shall avenge my covenant, that is, the sword, which shall avenge the breach of the Divine covenant; a war, which will devastate them because of their rebellion against the covenant God. Hence the Chaldee Versions render it, "that shall avenge on you the vengeance for that ye have transgressed against the words of the law."

And when ye are gathered together within your cities.--When, completely defeated in the battlefield, the Israelites escape from the avenging sword into their fortified cities, they will then become a prey to pestilence, so that the surviving remnant will prefer to deliver themselves over into the hands of the relentless enemy. (Comp. Jeremiah 21:6-9; Ezekiel 5:12; Ezekiel 7:15.)

26:14-39 After God has set the blessing before them which would make them a happy people if they would be obedient, he here sets the curse before them, the evils which would make them miserable, if they were disobedient. Two things would bring ruin. 1. A contempt of God's commandments. They that reject the precept, will come at last to renounce the covenant. 2. A contempt of his corrections. If they will not learn obedience by the things they suffer, God himself would be against them; and this is the root and cause of all their misery. And also, The whole creation would be at war with them. All God's sore judgments would be sent against them. The threatenings here are very particular, they were prophecies, and He that foresaw all their rebellions, knew they would prove so. TEMPORAL judgments are threatened. Those who will not be parted from their sins by the commands of God, shall be parted from them by judgments. Those wedded to their lusts, will have enough of them. SPIRITUAL judgments are threatened, which should seize the mind. They should find no acceptance with God. A guilty conscience would be their continual terror. It is righteous with God to leave those to despair of pardon, who presume to sin; and it is owing to free grace, if we are not left to pine away in the iniquity we were born in, and have lived in.And I will bring a sword upon you,.... War upon them by the sword of their enemies; they that use and kill with the sword, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; their neighbours that delighted in war, and bore an implacable, hatred unto them, and gladly embraced every opportunity of shedding their blood, and ravaging their country:

that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant; the covenant made with them at Sinai, which they transgressed, and for which vengeance would be taken on them in this way, God so ordering it in his providence, though the enemy meant it not, Isaiah 10:5,

and when ye are gathered together within your cities; from the fields and villages, fleeing from the enemy invading and destroying, to their fortified towns and cities for safety:

I will send the pestilence among you; which shall destroy those that escaped the sword, and thought themselves safe in a strong city, and even the very soldiers in the garrisons, who were set for the defence of the city:

and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy; so many being taken off by the pestilence, there would not be a sufficient number to defend the place, and therefore obliged to give it up, by which means those that escaped the pestilence would fall into the hands of the enemy.