¹⁵ There the fire^(A) will consume you;
    the sword^(B) will cut you down—
    they will devour you like a swarm of locusts.
Multiply like grasshoppers,
    multiply like locusts!^(C)
16 You have increased the number of your merchants
    till they are more numerous than the stars in the sky,
but like locusts^(D) they strip the land
    and then fly away.
¹⁷ Your guards are like locusts,^(E)
    your officials like swarms of locusts
    that settle in the walls on a cold day—
but when the sun appears they fly away,
    and no one knows where.