Jeremiah 9:11

9:11 The Lord said, ¹ 

“I will make Jerusalem ²  a heap of ruins.

Jackals will make their home there. ³ 

I will destroy the towns of Judah

so that no one will be able to live in them.”

Jeremiah 26:18

26:18 “Micah from Moresheth ⁴  prophesied during the time Hezekiah was king of Judah. ⁵  He told all the people of Judah,

‘The Lord who rules over all ⁶  says,

“Zion ⁷  will become a plowed field.

Jerusalem ⁸  will become a pile of rubble.

The temple mount will become a mere wooded ridge.”’ ⁹ 

Jeremiah 51:37

51:37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins.

Jackals will make their home there. ¹⁰ 

It will become an object of horror and of hissing scorn,

a place where no one lives. ¹¹ 

Micah 3:12

3:12 Therefore, because of you, ¹²  Zion will be plowed up like ¹³  a field,

Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

and the Temple Mount ¹⁴  will become a hill overgrown with brush! ¹⁵ 

¹ tn The words “the Lord said” are not in the text, but it is obvious from the content that he is the speaker. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

² map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

³ tn Heb “a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals.”

⁴ sn Micah from Moresheth was a contemporary of Isaiah (compare Mic 1:1 with Isa 1:1) from the country town of Moresheth in the hill country southwest of Jerusalem. The prophecy referred to is found in Mic 3:12. This is the only time in the OT where an OT prophet is quoted verbatim and identified.

⁵ sn Hezekiah was co-regent with his father Ahaz from 729-715 b.c. and sole ruler from 715-686 b.c. His father was a wicked king who was responsible for the incursions of the Assyrians (2 Kgs 16; 2 Chr 28). Hezekiah was a godly king, noted for his religious reforms and for his faith in the Lord in the face of the Assyrian threat (2 Kgs 18–19; 2 Chr 32:1-23). The deliverance of Jerusalem in response to his prayers of faith (2 Kgs 19:14-19, 29-36) was undoubtedly well-known to the people of Jerusalem and Judah and may have been one of the prime reasons for their misplaced trust in the inviolability of Zion/Jerusalem (see Ps 46, 76) though the people of Micah’s day already believed it too (Mic 3:11).

⁶ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

⁷ sn Zion was first of all the citadel that David captured (2 Sam 5:6-10), then the city of David and the enclosed temple area, then the whole city of Jerusalem. It is often in poetic parallelism with Jerusalem as it is here (see, e.g., Ps 76:2; Amos 1:2).

⁸ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁹ sn There is irony involved in this statement. The text reads literally “high places of a forest/thicket.” The “high places” were the illicit places of worship that Jerusalem was supposed to replace. Because of their sin, Jerusalem would be like one of the pagan places of worship with no place left sacrosanct. It would even be overgrown with trees and bushes. So much for its inviolability!

¹⁰ tn Heb “a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals.” Compare 9:11.

¹¹ tn Heb “without an inhabitant.”

¹² tn The plural pronoun refers to the leaders, priests, and prophets mentioned in the preceding verse.

¹³ tn Or “into” (an adverbial accusative of result).

¹⁴ tn Heb “the mountain of the house” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

¹⁵ tn Heb “a high place of overgrowth.”