I have heard the LORD Almighty say, "All these big, fine houses will be empty ruins.

The grapevines growing on five acres of land will yield only five gallons of wine. Ten bushels of seed will produce only one bushel of grain."

I asked, "How long will it be like this, Lord?" He answered, "Until the cities are ruined and empty---until the houses are uninhabited---until the land itself is a desolate wasteland.

I will send the people far away and make the whole land desolate.

When that day comes, well-defended cities will be deserted and left in ruins like the cities that the Hivites and the Amorites abandoned as they fled from the people of Israel.

You have turned cities into ruins and destroyed their fortifications. The palaces which our enemies built are gone forever.

Your sacred cities are like a desert; Jerusalem is a deserted ruin,

If you continue to disobey, then I will do to this Temple what I did to Shiloh, and all the nations of the world will use the name of this city as a curse."

"When Hezekiah was king of Judah, the prophet Micah of Moresheth told all the people that the LORD Almighty had said, 'Zion will be plowed like a field; Jerusalem will become a pile of ruins, and the Temple hill will become a forest.'

No one comes to the Temple now to worship on the holy days. The young women who sang there suffer, and the priests can only groan. The city gates stand empty, and Zion is in agony.

Like an enemy, the Lord has destroyed Israel; He has left her forts and palaces in ruins. He has brought on the people of Judah unending sorrow.

The Lord rejected his altar and deserted his holy Temple; He allowed the enemy to tear down its walls. They shouted in victory where once we had worshiped in joy.

The gates lie buried in rubble, their bars smashed to pieces. The king and the noblemen now are in exile. The Law is no longer taught, and the prophets have no visions from the LORD.

because Mount Zion lies lonely and deserted, and wild jackals prowl through its ruins.

So now listen to what I, the Sovereign LORD, say to you mountains and hills, to you brooks and valleys, to you places that were left in ruins, and to you deserted cities which were plundered and mocked by all the surrounding nations.

And so, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a pile of ruins, and the Temple hill will become a forest.

The time will come when your enemies will surround you with barricades, blockade you, and close in on you from every side.

They will completely destroy you and the people within your walls; not a single stone will they leave in its place, because you did not recognize the time when God came to save you!"

"When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that it will soon be destroyed.

For those will be 'The Days of Punishment,' to make come true all that the Scriptures say.

Some will be killed by the sword, and others will be taken as prisoners to all countries; and the heathen will trample over Jerusalem until their time is up.

All the hills where crops were once planted will be so overgrown with thorns that no one will go there. It will be a place where cattle and sheep graze."

The cities of Syria will be deserted forever. They will be a pasture for sheep and cattle, and no one will drive them away.

and thorn bushes and briers are growing on my people's land. Weep for all the houses where people were happy and for the city that was full of life.

Even the palace will be abandoned and the capital city totally deserted. Homes and the forts that guarded them will be in ruins forever. Wild donkeys will roam there, and sheep will find pasture there.