Therefore on account of you men Zion will be plowed up as a mere field, and Jerusalem herself will become mere heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the house will be as the high places of a forest.

13. When did that turn of events take place in ancient times?

¹³ Does that quotation from Micah sound like a sharp turn in the events of a nation? There can be no question of doubt that the grand final part of this prophecy must come true, for the words of prophecy introducing it most certainly came true. Recorded history is there to show it. In the year 607 B.C.E., near the beginning of what would be our month of October, the city over there in the Middle East that is poetically called “Zion” did lie like a mere field that had been plowed up. Yes, the national capital Jerusalem was left lying as mere heaps of ruins.

14. (a) What did “the mountain of the house of Jehovah” then begin to look like? (b) Because of what judicial and religious practices had Jehovah willed that this take place?

¹⁴ And what about the 2,500-foot-high mountain upon which Jehovah’s house of worship that had been built by King Solomon used to stand in awe-striking beauty? That sacred mountain began to look like “the high places of a forest.” It was deserted like a forested hilltop. Was that a disgrace for Jehovah God? Seemingly so. And yet he had willed it to be so, for he inspired his prophet Micah to be the first one to foretell such a religious calamity.