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J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible

Micah 1:8

For this cause, will I lament and howl, I will go stript and bare, - I will make a lamentation, like the wild dogs, and a mourning, like ostriches.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Dragon;   Idolatry;   Ostriches;   Owl;   Thompson Chain Reference - Animals;   Dragons;   Earnestness-Indifference;   Solicitude;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Dragon, the;   Owl, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Dragon;   Naked;   Ostrich;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Prophet, Prophetess, Prophecy;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Dragon;   Naked;   Owl;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Micah;   Ostrich;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Animals;   Birds;   Jackal;   Micah, Book of;   Naked;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Micah;   Micah, Book of;   Mourning Customs;   Ostrich;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Dragon;   Ostrich;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Ostrich,;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Name;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Ostrich;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Barefoot;   Naked;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Ancestor Worship;   Barefoot;   Ostrich;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Because of this I will lament and wail;I will walk barefoot and naked.I will howl like the jackalsand mourn like ostriches.
Hebrew Names Version
For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, And moan like the daughters of owls.
King James Version (1611)
Therfore I wil waile and houle, I will goe stript and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owles.
King James Version
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.
English Standard Version
For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches.
New American Standard Bible
Because of this I must mourn and wail, I must go barefoot and naked; I must do mourning like the jackals, And a mourning like the ostriches.
New Century Version
I will moan and cry because of this evil, going around barefoot and naked. I will cry loudly like the wild dogs and make sad sounds like the owls do,
Amplified Bible
Because of this I [Micah] must lament (mourn over with expressions of grief) and wail, I must go barefoot and naked [without outer garments as if robbed]; I must wail like the jackals And lament [with a loud, mournful cry] like the ostriches.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore I will mourne and howle: I wil goe without clothes, and naked: I will make lamentation like the dragons, and mourning as the ostriches.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Because of this I must lament and wail, I must go barefoot and naked; I must make a lament like the jackals And a mourning like the ostriches.
Legacy Standard Bible
Because of this I must lament and wail;I must go barefoot and naked;I must make a lament like the jackalsAnd a mourning like the ostriches.
Berean Standard Bible
Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.
Contemporary English Version
Because of this tragedy, I go barefoot and naked. My crying and weeping sound like howling wolves or ostriches.
Complete Jewish Bible
This is why I howl and wail, why I go barefoot and stripped, why I howl like the jackals and mourn like the ostriches.
Darby Translation
For 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.
Easy-to-Read Version
I will be very sad about what will happen. I will go without sandals and clothes. I will cry like a dog. I will mourn like a bird.
George Lamsa Translation
Therefore I will mourn and howl, and walk bare footed and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackal and mourning like the owl.
Good News Translation
Then Micah said, "Because of this I will mourn and lament. To show my sorrow, I will walk around barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and wail like an ostrich.
Lexham English Bible
On account of this I will lament and wail. I will go about barefoot and naked. I will make a lamentation like the jackals, and a mourning ceremony like the ostriches.
Literal Translation
Because of this I will wail and howl; I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackal, yea, mourn like the daughters of an ostrich.
American Standard Version
For 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.
Bible in Basic English
For 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.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For this will I wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals, and a mourning like the ostriches.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Wherefore I wyll mourne and make lamentation, bare and naked wyl I go: I wyll mourne lyke the Dragons, and take sorowe as the Ostriches.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Therefore shall she lament and wail, she shall go barefooted, and being naked she shall make lamentation as that of serpents, and mourning as of the daughters of sirens.
English Revised Version
For this will I wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the jackals, and a mourning like the ostriches.
World English Bible
For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, And moan like the daughters of owls.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
On this thing Y schal weile and yelle, Y schal go spuylid and nakid; Y schal make weilyng of dragouns, and mournyng as of ostrigis.
Update Bible Version
For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals, and a lamentation like the ostriches.
Webster's Bible Translation
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.
New English Translation
For this reason I will mourn and wail; I will walk around barefoot and without my outer garments. I will howl like a wild dog, and screech like an owl.
New King James Version
Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals And a mourning like the ostriches,
New Living Translation
Therefore, I will mourn and lament. I will walk around barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and moan like an owl.
New Life Bible
Because of this I must cry out in sorrow. I must go without shoes and clothing. I must cry out like the wild dogs, and cry in sorrow like the ostriches.
New Revised Standard
For this I will lament and wail; I will go barefoot and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Therefore will I lament, and howl: I will go stript and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and a mourning like the ostriches.
Revised Standard Version
For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches.
Young's Literal Translation
For this I lament and howl, I go spoiled and naked, I make a lamentation like dragons, And a mourning like daughters of an ostrich.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Wherfore I wil mourne & make lamentacion, bare & naked will I go: I must mourne like ye dragos, & take sorow as ye Estriches:
THE MESSAGE
This is why I lament and mourn. This is why I go around in rags and barefoot. This is why I howl like a pack of coyotes, and moan like a mournful owl in the night. God has inflicted punishing wounds; Judah has been wounded with no healing in sight. Judgment has marched through the city gates. Jerusalem must face the charges.

Contextual Overview

8 For this cause, will I lament and howl, I will go stript and bare, - I will make a lamentation, like the wild dogs, and a mourning, like ostriches. 9 For dangerous are her wounds, - for she hath come as far as Judah, she hath reached as far as the gate of my people, as far as Jerusalem. 10 In Gath, do not tell, in Accho, do not weep, - in Beth-l'aphrah, roll yourselves in dust. 11 Pass thou over (for you), thou inhabitress of Shaphir, of disgraceful disclosure, - the inhabitress of Zaanan, hath not gone forth, at the lamentation of Beth-ezel, shall he take from you his station, 12 Though the inhabitress of Maroth waited for blessing, - yet there came down calamity from Yahweh, to the gate of Jerusalem. 13 Bind the chariot to the steed, O inhabitress of Lachish, - the beginning of sin, was she to the daughter of Zion, for, in thee, have been found the transgressions of Israel. 14 Therefore, shalt thou give a dismission, against Moresheth-gath, - The houses of Achzib, served for a deception to the kings of Israel. 15 The time shall yet be when, the heir, I will bring unto thee, O inhabitress of Mareshah, - as far as Adullam, shall enter the glory of Israel. 16 Make thee bald, and cut off thy hair, for the children of thy pleasures, - enlarge thy baldness, like a vulture, for they are exiled from thee.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I will wail: Isaiah 16:9, Isaiah 21:3, Isaiah 22:4, Jeremiah 4:19, Jeremiah 9:1, Jeremiah 9:10, Jeremiah 9:19, Jeremiah 48:36-39

I will go: Isaiah 20:2-4

a wailing: Job 30:29, Psalms 102:6

owls: Heb. daughters of the owl

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 19:24 - stripped Esther 4:1 - and cried Isaiah 32:11 - strip Jeremiah 6:26 - gird Jeremiah 46:22 - voice Ezekiel 21:12 - howl Ezekiel 27:31 - they shall weep Ezekiel 32:18 - wail Amos 5:16 - Wailing Micah 1:11 - thou inhabitant of Saphir

Cross-References

Genesis 1:5
and God called the light, day, but the darkness, called he, night. So it was evening - and it was morning, one day.
Genesis 1:10
And God called, the dry-ground, land, but the gathering together of the waters, called he seas. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:13
So it was evening - and it was morning, a third day.
Genesis 1:19
So it was evening - and it was morning, a fourth day.
Genesis 1:23
So it was evening - and it was morning, a fifth day.
Genesis 1:31
And God saw every thing which he had made, and lo! it was very good. So it was evening - and it was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 5:2
Male and female, created he them, - and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day they were created.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked,.... To his shut, putting off his upper garment; the rough one, such as the prophets used to wear; which he did as the greater sign of his mourning: sometimes, in such cases, they rent their garments; at other times they stripped themselves of them, and walked naked, as Isaiah did, Isaiah 20:3; he went about like a madman, one disturbed in his mind, bereft of his senses, because of the desolation coming upon Israel; and without his clothes, as such persons often do: so the word rendered "stripped" signifies, as the Jewish commentators observe. This lamentation, and with these circumstances, the prophet made in his own person, to show the reality and certainty of their ruin, and to represent to them the desolate condition they would be in, destitute of all good things, and to them with it; as well as to express the sympathy of his heart, and thereby to assure them that it was not out of ill will to them, or a spirit of revenge, that he delivered such a message: or this he did in the person of all the people, showing what they would do, and that this would be their case shortly. So the Targum,

"for this they shall wail and howl, and go naked among the spoilers;''

I will make a wailing like the dragons; as in their fight with elephants, at which time they make a hideous noise n; and whose hissings have been very terrible to large bodies of men. Aelianus o speaks of a dragon in India, which, when it perceived Alexander's army near at hand, gave such a prodigious hiss and blast, that it greatly frightened and disturbed the whole army: and he relates p of another, that was in a valley near Mount Pellenaeus, in the isle of Chios, whose hissing was very terrible to the inhabitants of that place; and Bochart q conjectures that this their hissing is here referred to; and who observes of the whale, that it has its name from a word in the Hebrew tongue, which signifies to lament; and which word is here used, and is frequently used of large fishes, as whales, sea calves, dolphins, c. which make a great noise and bellowing, as the sea calf particularly the balaena, which is one kind of a whale, and makes such a large and continued noise, as to be heard at the distance of two miles, as Rondeletius r says; and dolphins are said to make a moan and groaning like human creatures, as Pliny s and Solinus t report: and Peter Gillius relates, from his own experience, that lodging one night in a vessel, in which many dolphins were taken, there were such weeping and mourning, that he could not sleep for them; he thought they deplored their condition with mourning, lamentation, and a large flow of tears, as men do, and therefore could not help pitying their case; and, while the fisherman was asleep, took that which was next him, that seemed to mourn most, and cast it into the sea; but this was of no avail, for the rest increased their mourning more and more, and seemed plainly to desire the like deliverance; so that all the night he was in the midst of the most bitter moaning: wherefore Bochart, who quotes these instances, elsewhere u thinks that the prophet compares his mourning with the mourning of these creatures, rather than with the hissing of dragons. Some w think crocodiles are here meant; and of them it is reported x, that when they have eaten the body of a creature, which they do first, and come to the head, they weep over it with tears; hence the proverb of crocodiles tears, for hypocritical ones; but it cannot well be thought, surely, that the prophet would compare his mourning to that of such a creature. The learned Pocock thinks it more reasonable that the "jackals" are meant, called by the Arabians "ebn awi", rather than dragons; a creature of a size between a fox and a wolf, or a dog and a fox, which makes a dreadful howling in the night; by which travellers, unacquainted with it, would think a company of women or children were howling, and goes before the lion as his provider;

and mourning as the owls; or "daughters of the owl" y; which is a night bird, and makes a very frightful noise, especially the screech owl. The Targum interprets it of the ostrich z; and it may be meant either of the mourning it makes when its young are about to be taken away, and it exposes itself to danger on their account, and perishes in the attempt. Aelianus a reports that they are taken by sharp iron spikes fixed about their nest, when they are returning to their young, after having been in quest of food for them; and, though they see the shining iron, yet such is their vehement desire after their young, that they spread their wings like sails, and with great swiftness and noise rush into the nest, where they are transfixed with the spikes, and die: and not only Vatablus observes, that these creatures have a very mournful voice; but Bochart b has shown, from the Arabic writers, that they frequently cry and howl; and from John de Laet, who affirms that those in the parts about Brazil cry so loud as to be heard half a mile; and indeed they have their name from crying and howling. The Targum renders it by a word which signifies pleasant; and so Onkelos on

Leviticus 11:16, by an antiphrasis, because its voice is so very unpleasant. Or, since the words may be rendered, "the daughters of the ostrich" c, it may be understood of the mourning of its young, when left by her, when they make a hideous noise and miserable moan, as some observe d.

n Aelian. de Animal. l. 6. c. 22. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 11. o Ib. l. 15. c. 21. p Ib. l. 16. c. 39. q Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 3. c. 14. col. 437. r Apud Bochart. ib. par. 1. l. 1. c. 7. col. 47. s Nat. Hist. l. 9. c. 9. t Polyhistor. c. 22. u Ut supra, (Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 3. c. 14.) col. 48. w Ludolphus apud Burkium in loc. x Vid. Frantzii Hist. Animal. Sacr. par. 1. c. 26. sect. 2. y כבנות יענה "ut filiae ululae", Piscator, Burkius; "instar filiarum. ululae", Cocceius. So Montanus. z So the Vulgate Latin, Munster, Pagninus, Drusius, Bochartus, and others. a De Animal. l. 14. c. 7. b Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 2. c. 14. col. c. 228. c "Filiarum struthionis", Pagninus; "juvenes struthiones", Tigurine version. d Vid. Frantz. Hist. Animal. Sacr. par. 2. c. 2. p. 339, 342.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Therefore I will - Therefore I would

Wail - (properly, beat, that is, on the breast).

And howl - “Let me alone,” he would say, “that I may vent my sorrow in all ways of expressing sorrow, beating on the breast and wailing, using all acts and sounds of grief.” It is as we would say, “Let me mourn on,” a mourning inexhaustible, because the woe too and the cause of grief was unceasing. The prophet becomes in words, probably in acts too, an image of his people, doing as they should do hereafter. He mourns, because and as they would have to mourn, bearing chastisement, bereft of all outward comeliness, an example also of repentance, since what he did were the chief outward tokens of mourning.

I will (would) go stripped - despoiled .

And naked - He explains the acts, that they represented no mere voluntary mourning. Not only would he, representing them, go bared of all garments of beauty, as we say “half-naked” but despoiled also, the proper term of those plundered and stripped by an enemy. He speaks of his doing, what we know that Isaiah did, by God’s command, representing in act what his people should thereafter do. : “Wouldest thou that I should weep, thou must thyself grieve the first.” Micah doubtless went about, not speaking only of grief, but grieving, in the habit of one mourning and bereft of all. He prolongs in these words the voice of wailing, choosing unaccustomed forms of words, to carry on the sound of grief.

I will make a wailing like the dragons - (jackals).

And mourning as the owls - (ostriches). The cry of both, as heard at night, is very piteous. Both are doleful creatures, dwelling in desert and lonely places. “The jackals make a lamentable howling noise, so that travelers unacquainted with them would think that a company of people, women or children, were howling, one to another.”

“Its howl,” says an Arabic natural historian , “is like the crying of an infant.” “We heard them,” says another , “through the night, wandering around the villages, with a continual, prolonged, mournful cry.” The ostrich, forsaking its young Job 39:16, is an image of bereavement. Jerome: “As the ostrich forgets her eggs and leaves them as though they were not her’s, to be trampled by the feet of wild beasts, so too shall I go childless, spoiled and naked.” Its screech is spoken of by travelers as “fearful, aftrighting.” : “During the lonesome part of the night they often make a doleful and piteous noise. I have often heard them groan, as if they were in the greatest agonies.”

Dionysius: “I will grieve from the heart over those who perish, mourning for the hardness of the ungodly, as the Apostle had Romans 9:1 great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart for his brethren, the impenitent and unbelieving Jews. Again he saith, “who is weak and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?” 2 Corinthians 11:29. For by how much the soul is nobler than the body, and by how much eternal damnation is heavier than any temporal punishment, so much more vehemently should we grieve and weep for the peril and perpetual damnation of souls, than for bodily sickness or any temporal evil.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 8. I will make a wailing like the dragonsNewcome 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.


 
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