The cities of Aroer {are} forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make {them} afraid.

In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.

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.

Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed {like} a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns {and} briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy {in} the joyous city: {yea...: or, burning upon}

Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.

And {on} all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.

For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,

In mine ears {said} the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, {even} great and fair, without inhabitant. {In...: or, This is in mine ears, saith the LORD, etc} {Of a...: Heb. If not, etc}

Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that {are} round about; {rivers: or, bottoms, or, dales}

And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.

The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she {is} in bitterness.

Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

For thou hast made of a city an heap; {of} a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.

The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, {utterly...: Heb. desolate with desolation}

Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

For thus saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou {art} Gilead unto me, {and} the head of Lebanon: {yet} surely I will make thee a wilderness, {and} cities {which} are not inhabited.

And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land.

Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. {turneth...: Heb. perverteth the face thereof}

And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.

Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks; {forts...: or, clifts and watchtowers}

And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour {them}, because of their own counsels.

The LORD'S voice crieth unto the city, and {the man of} wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. {the man...: or, thy name shall see that which is}

But that which beareth thorns and briers {is} rejected, and {is} nigh unto cursing; whose end {is} to be burned.

In mine ears {said} the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, {even} great and fair, without inhabitant. {In...: or, This is in mine ears, saith the LORD, etc} {Of a...: Heb. If not, etc}

For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, {yet} a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. {of them: Heb. in, or, among, etc} {with: or, in}

The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.

When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place. {low in...: or, utterly abased}

But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it. {punish: Heb. visit upon}

And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast {them} into the fire.

I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD.

And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; {and} break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: {trodden...: Heb. for a treading}

If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast {them} into the fire, and they are burned.

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.