Micah 3:12
in Micah 3Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
KJV
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
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This verse in Micah 3
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Gregory of NazianzusIN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT TO PONTUS, ORATION 2:58 · Written before 390.
Hence again the divine Micah was unable to brook the building of Zion with blood, however you interpret the phrase, and of Jerusalem with iniquity. Meanwhile, these heads of the house of Jacob abhorred justice. The priests were teaching for hire. The prophets were prophesying for money! What does Micah say will be the result of this? "Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a storehouse of fruit, and the mountain of the house shall be as the grove of the forest."
This site's exposition
Zion for your sake be plowed as a field
The chapter's sentence is the harshest word Zion ever heard from a true prophet, Zion for your sake plowed as a field, Jerusalem heaps, the mountain of the house, the temple mount itself, reduced to the high places of the forest. A century later this exact verse saved a prophet's life: Jeremiah 26:18 quotes it word for word, naming Micah by name and recalling that Hezekiah heard it, feared the Lord, and the Lord repented of the evil pronounced, the precedent the elders cite to spare Jeremiah from the same charge of treason. The commentators mark the irony, Micah's threat of the temple's destruction preserved Jeremiah's life a century before it preserved nothing of the temple itself in 586 BC.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 9 onwards) Hear this, rulers of the house of Jacob, and judges of the house of Israel: you who abhor justice and pervert all that is right, who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity. Its rulers give judgment for a bribe, its priests teach for a fee, its prophets divine for money, yet they lean upon the Lord and say, 'Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.'
Isaiah lived almost a thousand years ago and saw Zion in its primitive form. The city was still standing, beautified with public squares and clothed in honor; yet he says, "Zion shall be plowed like a field." He was foretelling what has been fulfilled in our day. Observe the exactness of the prophecy; for he said, "Daughter Zion shall be left like a hut in a vineyard, like a shed in a cucumber patch." Now the place is full of cucumber patches. Do you see how the Holy Spirit enlightens the saints? Therefore do not be distracted by a common term but hold fast to what is exactly true.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
For your sake - Because of your sins. The mountain - The mountain, on which the temple stood. This is that passage, which is quoted, Jer. xxvi, 18, which Hezekiah and his princes took well: yea, they repented and so the execution of it did not come in their days.
is quoted) that this was spoken in Hezekiah's kingdom; but, the ten tribes being gone into captivity, Judah is all that is now left of Jacob and Israel. The prophet speaks respectfully to them ( hear, I pray you ) and gives them their titles of heads and princes. Ministers must be faithful to great men in reproving them for their sins, but they must not be rude and uncivil to them.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field,....
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Princes and prophets, when they faithfully discharge the duty of their office, are to be highly honoured above other men; but when they betray their trust, and act contrary to it, they should hear of their faults as well as others, and shall be made to know that there is a God above them, to whom they are accountable; at his bar the prophet here, in his name, arraigns them.
(2.) It is the wickedness of those who preside in them that brings the ruin: "It is for your sake that Zion shall be ploughed as a field; you pretend to build up Zion, but, doing it by blood and iniquity, you pull it down." Note, The sin of priests and princes is often the ruin of states and churches.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Therefore shall Zion - be ploughed as a field - It shall undergo a variety of reverses and sackages, till at last there shall not be one stone left on the top of another, that shall not be pulled down; and then a plough shall be drawn along the site of the walls, to signify an irreparable and endless destruction. Of this ancient custom Horace speaks, Odar. lib. i., Od. 16, ver.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Therefore shall Zion for your sake - for your sake shall Zion Be plowed as a field - They thought to be its builders; they were its destroyers. They imagined to advance or secure its temporal prosperity by bloods; they (as men ever do first or last,) ruined it. Zion might have stood, but for these its acute, far-sighted politicians, who scorned the warnings of the prophets, as well-meant ignorance of the world or of the necessities of the state. They taught, perhaps they thought, that “for Zion’s sake” they, (act as they might,) were secure. Practical Antinomians! God says, that, “for their sake,” Zion, defiled by their deeds, should be destroyed. The fulfillment of the prophecy was delayed by the repentance under Hezekiah. Did he not, the elders ask Jer 26:19, fear the Lord and besought the Lord, and the Lord repented Him of the evil which He had pronounced against them? But the prophecy remained, like that of Jonah against Nineveh, and, when man undid and in act repented of his repentanee, it found its fulfillment. Jerusalem shall become heaps - (Literally, of ruins) and “the mountain of the house,” Mount Moriah, on which the house of God stood, “as the high places of the forest,” literally “as high places of a forest.” It should return wholly to what it had been, before Abraham offered up the typical sacrifice of his son, a wild and desolate place covered with tangled thickets Gen 22:13. The prophecy had a first fulfillment at its first capture by Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah mourns over it; “Because of the mountain of Zion which is desolate, foxes walk” Lam 5:18 (habitually upon it. […]
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָכֵן֙ | lakhen | <to> therefore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| בִּגְלַלְכֶ֔ם | biglalkhem | on account of you | H1558 → | |
| צִיּ֖וֹן | tziyon | Zion | H6726 → | 154 times |
| שָׂדֶ֣ה | sadeh | a field | H7704 → | 334 times |
| תֵֽחָרֵ֑שׁ | techaresh | it will be plowed | H2790 → | |
| וִירוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙ | virushalim | and Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
| עִיִּ֣ין | ʾiyin | heaps of ruins | H5856 → | |
| תִּֽהְיֶ֔ה | tihyeh | it will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| וְהַ֥ר | vehar | and [the] mountain of | H2022 → | 546 times |
| הַבַּ֖יִת | habayit | the house | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| לְבָמ֥וֹת | levamot | <into> high places of | H1116 → | 102 times |
| יָֽעַר׃ פ | yaar | a forest | H3293 → | 59 times |
לָכֵן֙<to> therefore
lakhenH3651 →771 times
בִּגְלַלְכֶ֔םon account of you
biglalkhemH1558 →
צִיּ֖וֹןZion
tziyonH6726 →154 times
שָׂדֶ֣הa field
sadehH7704 →334 times
תֵֽחָרֵ֑שׁit will be plowed
techareshH2790 →
וִירוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙and Jerusalem
virushalimH3389 →643 times
עִיִּ֣יןheaps of ruins
ʾiyinH5856 →
תִּֽהְיֶ֔הit will be
tihyehH1961 →3559 times
וְהַ֥רand [the] mountain of
veharH2022 →546 times
הַבַּ֖יִתthe house
habayitH1004 →2046 times
לְבָמ֥וֹת<into> high places of
levamotH1116 →102 times
יָֽעַר׃ פa forest
yaarH3293 →59 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 24:2“Do you see all these things?” He replied. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 26:18
“Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and told all the people of Judah that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Zion will be plowed like a…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Luke 19:44
They will level you to the ground—you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
- Ezekiel 7:20–22
His beautiful ornaments they transformed into pride and used them to fashion their vile images and detestable idols. Therefore I will make these into something unclean for them.
- 1 Kings 9:7–8
then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an…
- Daniel 9:26–27
Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end…
- Jeremiah 26:18
Through
Micah 1:6Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble in the open field, a planting area for a vineyard. I will pour her stones into the valley and expose her foundations.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 13:14
I will tear down the wall you whitewashed and level it to the ground, so that its foundation is exposed. The city will fall, and you will be destroyed within it. Then you will…
- Ezekiel 13:14
Through
Psalms 79:1The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 36:19
Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value.
- Lamentations 1:10
The adversary has seized all her treasures. For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary—those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.
- 2 Chronicles 36:19
About Micah
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
- PlaceJerusalemZionThe eastern ridge David took from the Jebusites and made his stronghold, the name the Psalms and the prophets give the city the LO…
- PlaceJerusalemJerusalemThe city David took from the Jebusites and made his capital, where Solomon built the temple, where Christ was crucified and rose,…
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 16:18; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Gregory of Nazianzus, IN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT TO PONTUS, ORATION 2:58; Jerome, Commentary on Micah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.