Because of the evil of the leaders, the people will suffer. The influence of the leaders has permeated the thought and actions of the people to the point that "every one of them is a hypocrite and an evildoer." The Lord will take no joy in their young men because they shall die (they will not live to be a joy as children should be to their father). The destruction will create orphans and widows, but the Lord will not recall the destruction for their sake for they are accomplices to it with their own departure from the ways of the Lord.
Literary note: Note the recurrent phrase of the Lord's hand. See verse 12. This stanza has focused on the leaders, where the previous stanza focused on the people and the lands.