Verse 25 continues the theme of social upheaval modeled through the contrast of cultivated/wild. In Gileadi, the verse reads:
And on all hillsides cultivated by the hoe you will no longer go for fear of the briars and thorns, but they shall serve as a cattle range, a terrain for sheep to tread down. (Gileadi, p. 109.)
Once again, we have cultivated land being abandoned. In this case, not only are there briars and thorns, but the lands become range for livestock. This is a total reversal of land use. I suggest that the metaphor of cultivated versus wild stands for the civilized/uncivilized contrast, and the effect of the prophecy is not simply to tell of the devastation of earth, but of culture.