Ezekiel 7:14

"They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready; but none goeth forth to battle; for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine are within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, pestilence and famine shall devour him. But those of them that escape shall escape, and shall be on the mountains, like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one in his iniquity. All the hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water. They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads."

THE COLLAPSE OF JUDAH'S MILITARY POWER

The trumpet would indeed sound; but it would not be for a year of jubilee, but for the onset of devastating war. The people, absolutely powerless because of their guilt and debaucheries would not be able to answer the call to defend the city.

"The three scourges mentioned by Jeremiah, sword, pestilence and famine (Jeremiah 14:18) are here seen as divided between the city and the countryside";[15] but there can be no doubt whatever that all of them were also operative within the city itself.

"Like doves in the valleys ..." (Ezekiel 7:16). "As doves moan lamentably when driven through fear from their nesting places, so shall the remnant of Israel who escape death moan in the land of their exile."[16]

"All knees ... weak as water ..." (Ezekiel 7:17). "This expression is unique to Ezekiel, and we shall meet it again in 21:7. The thought is paralleled in Isaiah 13:7 and in Jeremiah 6:24."[17] It just means that all of the strength of the once mighty people has been sinned away. They are now powerless before their enemies.