The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall
open them
Meaning the cities of Judah, which lay in the southern part of the land of Israel, and to the south of Babylon; which might be said to be shut up, and not in the power of any to open, when besieged by the Chaldean army; or rather when destroyed, that there were none to go in and out; though some think the cities of Egypt are intended, which lay south of Judea, from whence the Jews should not have the relief they expected, and where they should find no refuge; but the former sense seems best: Judah shall be carried away captive all of it;
it was in part carried away in Jehoiachin's time, and wholly in Zedekiah's; which seems to be here respected: it shall be wholly carried away captive;
or, in perfections F5; most perfectly and completely; the same thing is meant as before, only in different words repeated, to express the certainty of it.