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Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
Micah 7:13 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Yet the land will be desolate because of those who dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
  • BSB Then the earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the fruit of their deeds.
  • NKJV Yet the land shall be desolate Because of those who dwell in it, And for the fruit of their deeds.
  • NASB And the earth will become a wasteland because of her inhabitants, On account of the fruit of their deeds.
  • NLT But the land will become empty and desolate because of the wickedness of those who live there.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Yet the wider earth will be made desolate because of its inhabitants' evil deeds. It holds judgment and restoration together, the same day brings ruin to the unrepentant.

Overview

Alongside Zion's restoration, the land (or earth) will lie desolate as the fruit of human wickedness. God's saving purpose for His people coincides with judgment on persistent evil. This sober note reminds us that the day of salvation is also a day of reckoning, fulfilled when Christ both saves and judges.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 17

  • Isa 3:10–11Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
  • Jer 25:11And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
  • Mic 6:13Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.
  • Jer 17:10I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
  • Prov 31:31Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.
  • Prov 5:22His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
  • Isa 6:11–13Then 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,
  • Isa 24:3–8The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.
  • Job 4:8Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.
  • Dan 4:26–27And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule.
  • Mic 3:12Therefore 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.
  • Luke 21:20–24And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
  • Lev 26:33–39And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
  • Gal 6:7–8Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
  • Jer 21:14But 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.
  • Jer 32:19Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:
  • Prov 1:31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Micah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Micah 7:13YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on MicahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Micah names the town — 'But you, Bethlehem... from you shall come forth one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origins are from of old' — the birthplace of the eternal King.

How Micah 7:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.