For thus says Adonai concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are Gilead to Me— the summit of Lebanon, yet I will surely make you into a wilderness, uninhabited cities.
Then they sat down to eat bread. When they looked up, behold, there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balsam, and myrrh—going to bring them down to Egypt.
How lovely you are, my darling, how lovely! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of ewe goats descending down from Mount Gilead.
Through your servants, you have blasphemed my Lord and said: ‘With my many chariots I have climbed to the heights of the mountains, to the remotest parts of Lebanon! I cut down its tall cedars and choice cypress trees. I have gone to its farthest peak, its thickest forest.
Then I said, “Adonai, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, houses are without people, and the land is utterly desolate.
I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds.” It is a declaration of Adonai. “Also I will set fire to her forest, and it will consume all around her.”
“Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot: ‘Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will become ruins, and the mountain of the House as the high places of a forest.’
A lion has come up from his thicket— a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to make your land a wasteland. Your cities will lie in ruins, without inhabitant.
your mother will be utterly ashamed, she who bore you will be humiliated. Behold, the least of the nations will be a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.”
Then I will bring an end, from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem, to the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land will be desolate.”
Who is the one wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of Adonai spoken that he may explain it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a wilderness, so that no one passes through?”
Therefore, because of you Zion will become a plowed field. Yes, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the Temple Mount will become a high place in a forest.