swearing falsely in making a covenant - breaking their engagement to Shalmaneser (2Ki 17:4), and making a covenant with So, though covenants with foreigners were forbidden.
judgment ... as hemlock - that is, divine judgment shall spring up as rank, and as deadly, as hemlock in the furrows (Deu 29:18; Amo 5:7; Amo 6:12). Gesenius translates, “poppy.” Grotius, “darnel.”