Micah 1 · Verse 8

Micah 1:8

Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.
Micah 1:8, King James Version

Micah 1:8 in other translations

BSBBecause of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.
WEBFor this I will lament and wail. I will go stripped and naked. I will howl like the jackals and mourn like the ostriches.
ASVFor this will I lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals, and a lamentation like the ostriches.
YLTFor this I lament and howl, I go spoiled and naked, I make a lamentation like dragons, And a mourning like daughters of an ostrich.
DARBYFor this will I lament, and I will howl; I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches.
BBEFor this I will be full of sorrow and give cries of grief; I will go uncovered and unclothed: I will give cries of grief like the jackals and will be in sorrow like the ostriches.
WebsterTherefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.

What does Micah 1:8 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
8. Therefore I will wail--The prophet first shows how the coming judgment affects himself, in order that he might affect the minds of his countrymen similarly. stripped--that is, of shoes, or sandals, as the Septuagint translates. Otherwise "naked" would be a tautology. naked--"Naked" means divested of the upper garment (Is 20:2). "Naked and barefoot," the sign of mourning (2Sa 15:30). The prophet's upper garment was usually rough and coarse-haired (2Ki 1:8; Zec 13:4). like the dragons--so Jerome. Rather, "the wild dogs," jackals or wolves, which wail like an infant when in distress or alone [Maurer]. (See on Job 30:29). owls--rather, "ostriches," which give a shrill and long-drawn, sigh-like cry, especially at night.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 8 I will make a wailing like the dragons - Newcome translates: - I will make a wailing like the foxes, (or jackals), And mourning like the daughters of the ostrich. This beast, the jackal or shiagal, we have often met with in the prophets. Travellers inform us that its howlings by night are most lamentable; and as to the ostrich, it is remarkable for its fearful shrieking and agonizing groanings after night. Dr. Shaw says he has often heard them groan as if they were in the greatest agonies.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Micah 1:8-16
The prophet laments that Israel's case is desperate; but declare it not in Gath. Gratify not those that make merry with the sins or with the sorrows of God's Israel. Roll thyself in the dust, as mourners used to do; let every house in Jerusalem become a house of Aphrah, "a house of dust." When God makes the house dust it becomes us to humble ourselves to the dust under his mighty hand. Many places should share this mourning. The names have meanings which pointed out the miseries coming upon them; thereby to awaken the people to a holy fear of Divine wrath. All refuges but Christ, must be refuges of lies to those who trust in them; other heirs will succeed to every inheritance but that of heaven; and all glory will be turned into shame, except that honour which cometh from God only. Sinners may now disregard their neighbours' sufferings, yet their turn to be punished will some come.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Micah 1:8 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

עַל\־'al-onH5921
זֹאת֙zoTthisH2063
אֶסְפְּדָ֣ה'es.pe.DahI will lamentH5594
וְאֵילִ֔ילָהve.'ei.Li.lahand I will wailH3213
אֵילְכָ֥ה'eil.KhahI will goH1980
שׁוֹלָ֖לshi.lalbarefootH7758
וְעָר֑וֹםve.'a.Romand nakedH6174
אֶעֱשֶׂ֤ה'e.'e.SehI will makeH6213
מִסְפֵּד֙mis.Peda lamentH4553
כַּתַּנִּ֔יםka.ta.Nimlike <the> jackalsH8577
וְאֵ֖בֶלve.'E.veland a mourningH60
כִּבְנ֥וֹתkiv.Notlike [the] daughters ofH1323
יַעֲנָֽה\׃ya.'a.Nahan ostrichH3284

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Micah 1:8

  • Isaiah 20:2-4

    At the same time spake the Lord by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

  • Isaiah 22:4

    Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.

  • Isaiah 21:3

    Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.

  • Jeremiah 9:10

    For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.

  • Jeremiah 9:1

    Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

  • Jeremiah 9:19

    For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.

  • Jeremiah 4:19

    My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

  • Job 30:29

    I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

  • Isaiah 13:21

    But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.

  • Isaiah 16:9

    Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.

  • Psalms 102:6

    I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.

  • Jeremiah 48:36-39

    Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kir–heres: because the riches that he hath gotten are perished. For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth. There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof: for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the Lord. They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! how hath Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
I will wail.
Isa 16:9; 21:3; 22:4; Jer 4:19; 9:1,10,19; 48:36-39
I will go.
Isa 20:2-4
a wailing.
Job 30:29; Ps 102:6
owls. Heb. daughters of the owl.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Micah 1:7

    And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.

  • Micah 1:8

    Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.

  • Micah 1:9

    For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

Read all of Micah 1

Micah 1:8 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Por tanto lamentaré y aullaré, y andaré despojado y desnudo; haré gemido como de chacales, y lamento como de avestruces.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		À cause de cela je me frapperai la poitrine, et je hurlerai; j’irai dépouillé et nu; je ferai une lamentation comme les chacals, et des cris de deuil comme les autruches.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Darum will ich klagen und heulen, will entblößt und nackt einhergehen; ich will eine Wehklage halten gleich den Schakalen, und eine Trauer gleich den Straußen.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Super hoc plangam, et ululabo; vadam spoliatus, et nudus; faciam planctum velut draconum, et luctum quasi struthionum: