Jeremiah 26:18

26:18 “Micah from Moresheth ¹  prophesied during the time Hezekiah was king of Judah. ²  He told all the people of Judah,

‘The Lord who rules over all ³  says,

“Zion ⁴  will become a plowed field.

Jerusalem ⁵  will become a pile of rubble.

The temple mount will become a mere wooded ridge.”’ ⁶ 

Jeremiah 51:37

51:37 Babylon will become a heap of ruins.

Jackals will make their home there. ⁷ 

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

a place where no one lives. ⁸ 

Nehemiah 4:2

4:2 and in the presence of his colleagues ⁹  and the army of Samaria ¹⁰  he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left to themselves? ¹¹  Will they again offer sacrifice? Will they finish this in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones to life again from piles of dust?”

Psalms 79:1

Psalm 79 ¹² 

A psalm of Asaph.

79:1 O God, foreigners ¹³  have invaded your chosen land; ¹⁴ 

they have polluted your holy temple

and turned Jerusalem ¹⁵  into a heap of ruins.

Isaiah 25:2

25:2 Indeed, ¹⁶  you have made the city ¹⁷  into a heap of rubble,

the fortified town into a heap of ruins;

the fortress of foreigners ¹⁸  is no longer a city,

it will never be rebuilt.

Micah 1:6

1:6 “I will turn Samaria ¹⁹  into a heap of ruins in an open field –

vineyards will be planted there! ²⁰ 

I will tumble ²¹  the rubble of her stone walls ²²  down into the valley,

and tear down her fortifications to their foundations. ²³ 

Micah 3:12

3:12 Therefore, because of you, ²⁴  Zion will be plowed up like ²⁵  a field,

Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

and the Temple Mount ²⁶  will become a hill overgrown with brush! ²⁷ 

[26:18]  ¹ 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.

[26:18]  ² 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).

[26:18]  ³ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[26:18]  ⁴ 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).

[26:18]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[26:18]  ⁶ 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!

[51:37]  ⁷ tn Heb “a heap of ruins, a haunt for jackals.” Compare 9:11.

[51:37]  ⁸ tn Heb “without an inhabitant.”

[4:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “brothers.”

[4:2]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[4:2]  ¹¹ tc The Hebrew text is difficult here. The present translation follows the MT, but the text may be corrupt. H. G. M. Williamson (Ezra, Nehemiah [WBC], 213-14) translates these words as “Will they commit their cause to God?” suggesting that MT לָהֶם (lahem, “to them”) should be emended to לֵאלֹהִים (lelohim, “to God”), a proposal also found in the apparatus of BHS. In his view later scribes altered the phrase out of theological motivations. J. Blenkinsopp’s translation is similar: “Are they going to leave it all to God?” (Ezra–Nehemiah [OTL], 242-44). However, a problem for this view is the absence of external evidence to support the proposed emendation. The sense of the MT reading may be the notion that the workers – if left to their own limited resources – could not possibly see such a demanding and expensive project through to completion. This interpretation understands the collocation עָזַב (’azav, “to leave”) plus לְ (lÿ, “to”) to mean “commit a matter to someone,” with the sense in this verse “Will they leave the building of the fortified walls to themselves?”

[79:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 79. The author laments how the invading nations have destroyed the temple and city of Jerusalem. He asks God to forgive his people and to pour out his vengeance on those who have mistreated them.

[79:1]  ¹³ tn Or “nations.”

[79:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “have come into your inheritance.”

[79:1]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[25:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[25:2]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text has “you have made from the city.” The prefixed mem (מ) on עִיר (’ir, “city”) was probably originally an enclitic mem suffixed to the preceding verb. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:456, n. 3.

[25:2]  ¹⁸ tc Some with support from the LXX emend זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”) to זֵדִים (zedim, “the insolent”).

[1:6]  ¹⁹ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[1:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “into a planting place for vineyards.”

[1:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “pour” (so NASB, NIV); KJV, NRSV “pour down”; NAB “throw down”; NLT “roll.”

[1:6]  ²² tn Heb “her stones.” The term stones is a metonymy for the city walls whose foundations were constructed of stone masonry.

[1:6]  ²³ tn Heb “I will uncover her foundations.” The term “foundations” refers to the lower courses of the stones of the city’s outer fortification walls.

[3:12]  ²⁴ tn The plural pronoun refers to the leaders, priests, and prophets mentioned in the preceding verse.

[3:12]  ²⁵ tn Or “into” (an adverbial accusative of result).

[3:12]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the mountain of the house” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[3:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “a high place of overgrowth.”