Jeremiah 26:18

18 They said, “Remember when Micah of Moresheth prophesied during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah. He told the people of Judah, ‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins! A thicket will grow on the heights where the Temple now stands.’

Jeremiah 26:18 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 26:18

Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king
of Judah
Or, Micah of Maresha, as the Targum. Mareshah was a city of the tribe of Judah, ( Joshua 15:44 ) ; the native place, of this prophet; who appears, by the following quotation, to be the same Micah that stands among the minor prophets; and who is also so called, and lived in the times of Hezekiah, ( Micah 1:1 ) ; and spake to all the people of Judah;
very openly and publicly, and just as Jeremiah had done, ( Jeremiah 26:2 Jeremiah 26:7 Jeremiah 26:8 ) ; saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Zion shall be ploughed [like] a
field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps;
Mount Zion, on part of which the temple was built, and on the other the city of David, together with the city of Jerusalem, should be so demolished, as that they might be ploughed, and become a tillage; as the Jews say they were by Terentius, or Turnus Rufus, as they call him, after their last destruction by the Romans: and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest;
covered with grass and shrubs, and thorns and briers; even Mount Moriah, on which the temple stood, which is designed by the house; and so the Targum calls it the house of the sanctuary. Now this was saying as much against the city and temple as Jeremiah did; and was said in the days of a good king too, who encouraged a reformation, and carried it to a great pitch. See ( Micah 3:12 ) .

Jeremiah 26:18 In-Context

16 Then the officials and the people said to the priests and prophets, “This man does not deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.”
17 Then some of the wise old men stood and spoke to all the people assembled there.
18 They said, “Remember when Micah of Moresheth prophesied during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah. He told the people of Judah, ‘This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins! A thicket will grow on the heights where the Temple now stands.’
19 But did King Hezekiah and the people kill him for saying this? No, they turned from their sins and worshiped the LORD . They begged him for mercy. Then the LORD changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had pronounced against them. So we are about to do ourselves great harm.”
20 At this time Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim was also prophesying for the LORD . And he predicted the same terrible disaster against the city and nation as Jeremiah did.

Footnotes 1

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.