Micah 7:13
in Micah 7Then the earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the fruit of their deeds.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Yet shall the land be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
KJV
Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
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This verse in Micah 7
Commentary
8 notes on this verseNotwithstanding the land shall be desolate,.... Not the land of Chaldea, as some; or the land of the nations, as Jarchi and Kimchi; but the land of Israel. That part of it, which was possessed by the ten tribes, was made desolate by Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and that which was inhabited by the two tribes, by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and this desolation was to be, "notwithstanding" the above prophecies, and prior to the fulfilment of them.
This site's exposition
In the day that thy walls are to be built
on Micah 7:11-13
The complaint's answer widens from the single voice back to the nation, a day pictured when the walls now torn down are rebuilt and the decree that scattered the people is put far away. Verse 12 names a return from every direction, from Assyria, from Egypt's fortified cities, from river and from sea to sea, the older commentators reading it of the historical regathering from exile and later readers hearing a fuller ingathering still to come, both positions held rather than either one erasing the other. Verse 13 keeps the warning honest inside the promise, the land still desolate for the doings of those who dwell in it, judgment on the nations named alongside Israel's restoration rather than displacing it. Keil reads verses 11 through 13 as one unit, ruin, regathering, and remaining judgment held together rather than resolved into a single simple sequence.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 8 onwards) Do not rejoice, my enemy, over me, for I have fallen: I will rise again. When I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light: I will bear the anger of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he judges my cause and executes judgment for me, and brings me into the light, and I will see his righteousness, and my enemy will behold it, and she will be covered with shame, who says to me: Where is your God? My eyes will see her; now she will be trampled as the mud of the streets. The day will come when your walls will be rebuilt. On that day the law will go forth afar off: on that day it will come even to you from Assyria, and even to fortified cities, and from fortified cities even to the river, and from the river even to the sea, and from the sea even to the mountain. And the land will be a desolation because of its inhabitants, and because of the fruit of their thoughts. LXX: Do not insult me, my enemy: for I have fallen, and I will rise again: if I walk in darkness, the Lord will enlighten me. I will bear the anger of the Lord, for I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light, and I will see His righteousness. My enemy will see this and be covered with shame, the one who said to me, 'Where is your God?' My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled down like mud in the streets. The day of your punishment has come, O Assyria; the time has come for your destruction. The Lord will abolish your power and authority. Your cities will be laid waste, from Tyre to the river, from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. The land and its inhabitants will be scattered because of their wickedness. […]
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
For this they must expect to smart a great while; for the world shall know that God hates sin even in his own people. When it does come it shall be a complete salvation; and it seems to refer to their deliverance out of Babylon by Cyrus, which Isaiah about this time prophesied of, as a type of our redemption by Christ.
God's promise, in answer to this prayer; and we may well take God's promises as real answers to the prayers of faith, and embrace them accordingly, for with him saying and doing are not two things.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Notwithstanding - (And) the land (that is that spoken of, the land of Judah) shall be desolate not through any arbitrary law or the might of her enemies, but through the sins of the people, because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings Truly “the fruit of their doings,” what they did to please themselves, of their own minds against God.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
However glorious the prospect of restoration, the Jews are not to forget the visitation on their "land" which is to intervene for the "fruit of (evil caused by) their doings" (compare Pr 1:31;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate - This should be translated in the preter tense, “Though the land Had been desolate;” that is, the land of Israel had been desolate during the captivity, which captivity was the “fruit of the evil doings of them that had dwelt therein.”
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
It is a day, and he shall come up to you —The prophet says: That day that you deride, saying that it has been nullified and gone away - that day is guarded and preserved, and has not become nullified. The enemy shall come up to you to destroy you.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהָיְתָ֥ה | vehayetah | and it will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| הָאָ֛רֶץ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| לִשְׁמָמָ֖ה | lishmamah | <into> a desolation | H8077 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יֹֽשְׁבֶ֑יהָ | yosheveiha | inhabitants its | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| מִפְּרִ֖י | miperi | from [the] fruit of | H6529 → | |
| מַֽעַלְלֵיהֶֽם׃ ס | maaleihem | deeds their | H4611 → | 41 times |
וְהָיְתָ֥הand it will become
vehayetahH1961 →3559 times
הָאָ֛רֶץthe earth
haaretzH776 →2504 times
לִשְׁמָמָ֖ה<into> a desolation
lishmamahH8077 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יֹֽשְׁבֶ֑יהָinhabitants its
yosheveihaH3427 →1079 times
מִפְּרִ֖יfrom [the] fruit of
miperiH6529 →
מַֽעַלְלֵיהֶֽם׃ סdeeds their
maaleihemH4611 →41 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
Jeremiah 17:10I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the…
- Romans 8:27
And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
- Jeremiah 11:20
O LORD of Hosts, who judges righteously, who examines the heart and mind, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You I have committed my cause.
- Hebrews 4:12–13
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
- Revelation 2:23
Then I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the One who searches minds and hearts, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
- 1 Samuel 16:7
Through
Job 4:8As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.
it leads to
- Galatians 6:7–8
Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.
- Proverbs 22:8
He who sows injustice will reap disaster, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
- Hosea 8:7
For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.
- Galatians 6:7–8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Micah
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; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Micah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.