Yeremia 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 

Yesaya 2:2-3

2:2 In the future ⁷ 

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure ⁸ 

as the most important of mountains,

and will be the most prominent of hills. ⁹ 

All the nations will stream to it,

2:3 many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain,

to the temple of the God of Jacob,

so ¹⁰  he can teach us his requirements, ¹¹ 

and ¹²  we can follow his standards.” ¹³ 

For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; ¹⁴ 

the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. ¹⁵ 

Ratapan 5:17-18

5:17 Because of this, our hearts are sick; ¹⁶ 

because of these things, we can hardly see ¹⁷  through our tears. ¹⁸ 

5:18 For wild animals ¹⁹  are prowling over Mount Zion,

which lies desolate.

Mikha 3:12--4:2

3:12 Therefore, because of you, ²⁰  Zion will be plowed up like ²¹  a field,

Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

and the Temple Mount ²²  will become a hill overgrown with brush! ²³ 

Better Days Ahead for Jerusalem

4:1 In the future ²⁴  the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; ²⁵ 

it will be more prominent than other hills. ²⁶ 

People will stream to it.

4:2 Many nations will come, saying,

“Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain,

to the temple ²⁷  of Jacob’s God,

so he can teach us his commands ²⁸ 

and we can live by his laws.” ²⁹ 

For Zion will be the source of instruction;

the Lord’s teachings will proceed from Jerusalem. ³⁰ 

[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]  sn For an explanation of this title for God see the study note on 2:19.

[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!

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the end of the days.” This phrase may refer generally to the future, or more technically to the final period of history. See BDB 31 s.v. ַאחֲרִית. The verse begins with a verb that functions as a “discourse particle” and is not translated. In numerous places throughout the OT, the “to be” verb with a prefixed conjunction (וְהָיָה [vÿhayah] and וַיְהִי [vayÿhi]) occurs in this fashion to introduce a circumstantial clause and does not require translation.

[2:2]  ⁸ tn Or “be established” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “as the chief of the mountains, and will be lifted up above the hills.” The image of Mount Zion being elevated above other mountains and hills pictures the prominence it will attain in the future.

[2:3]  ¹⁰ tn The prefixed verb form with simple vav (ו) introduces a purpose/result clause after the preceding prefixed verb form (probably to be taken as a cohortative; see IBHS 650 §39.2.2a).

[2:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “his ways.” In this context God’s “ways” are the standards of moral conduct he decrees that people should live by.

[2:3]  ¹² tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.

[2:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “walk in his ways.”

[2:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”

[2:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

[5:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “are faint” or “are sick.” The adjective דַּוָּי (davvay, “faint”) is used in reference to emotional sorrow (e.g., Isa 1:5; Lam 1:22; Jer 8:18). The related adjective דָּוֶה (daveh) means “(physically) sick” and “(emotionally) sad,” while the related verb דָּוָה (davah) means “to be sad.” The cognate Aramaic term means “sorrow,” and the cognate Syriac term refers to “misery.”

[5:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “our eyes are dim.” The physical description of losing sight is metaphorical, perhaps for being blinded by tears or more abstractly for being unable to see (= envision) any hope. The collocation “darkened eyes” is too rare to clarify the nuance.

[5:17]  ¹⁸ tn The phrase “through our tears” is added in the translation for the sake of clarification.

[5:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “jackals.” The term “jackals” is a synecdoche of species (= jackals) for general (= wild animals).

[3:12]  ²⁰ tn The plural pronoun refers to the leaders, priests, and prophets mentioned in the preceding verse.

[3:12]  ²¹ tn Or “into” (an adverbial accusative of result).

[3:12]  ²² tn Heb “the mountain of the house” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[3:12]  ²³ tn Heb “a high place of overgrowth.”

[4:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “at the end of days.”

[4:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “will be established as the head of the mountains.”

[4:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “it will be lifted up above the hills.”

[4:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[4:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “ways.”

[4:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and we can walk in his paths.”

[4:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “instruction [or, “law”] will go out from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

[4:2]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.