Micah 1:16

Micah 1:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.
• New International Version (NIV)Shave your head in mourning for the children in whom you delight; make yourself as bald as the vulture, for they will go from you into exile.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Make yourself bald and cut off your hair, Because of your precious children; Enlarge your baldness like an eagle, For they shall go from you into captivity.
• New Living Translation (NLT)Oh, people of Judah, shave your heads in sorrow, for the children you love will be snatched away. Make yourselves as bald as a vulture, for your little ones will be exiled to distant lands.

Context of Micah 1:16

14Therefore you shall give parting gifts to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel. 15I will again bring a conqueror to you, inhabitants of Mareshah; the glory of Israel shall come to Adullam. Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair, for the children of your delight; make yourselves as bald as the eagle, for they shall go from you into exile.

Micah 1:16 word by word

קָרְחִ֣י וָגֹ֔זִּי עַל־בְּנֵ֖י תַּעֲנוּגָ֑יִךְ הַרְחִ֤בִי קָרְחָתֵךְ֙ כַּנֶּ֔שֶׁר כִּ֥י גָל֖וּ מִמֵּֽךְ׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Make thee baldקָרַחqârach · to make baldH7139
• and pollגָּזַזgâzaz · to shearH1494
• thee for thy delicateתַּעֲנוּגta‛ănûg ta‛ănûg ta‛ănûgâh · luxuryH8588
• childrenבֵּןbên · son: childH1121
• enlargeרָחַבrâchab · to enlargeH7337
• thy baldnessקׇרְחָהqorchâh qorchâ' · bald spotH7144
• as the eagleנֶשֶׁרnesher · eagleH5404
• for they are gone into captivityגָּלָהgâlâh · to reveal: removeH1540

Cross-references for Micah 1:16

• Job 1:20Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.
• Isaiah 15:2He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, to the high places to weep; over Nebo and over Medeba Moab wails. On every head is baldness; every beard is shorn;
• Isaiah 22:12In that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth;
• Jeremiah 6:26O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
• Jeremiah 7:29"'Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on the bare heights, for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.'
• Jeremiah 16:6Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them.
• Amos 8:10I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
• Deuteronomy 28:56The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces, to her son and to her daughter,
• Isaiah 3:16The Lord said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet,
• Lamentations 4:5Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple embrace ash heaps.
• Deuteronomy 28:41You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity.
• 2 Kings 17:6In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
• Isaiah 39:6Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord.

Commentaries on Micah 1:16

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16Make thee bald - Cutting off the hair was a sign of great distress, and was practised on the death of near relatives; see Amos 8:10. The desolation should be so great that Israel should feel it to her utmost extent; and the mourning should be like that of a mother for the death of her most delicate children. Enlarge thy baldness as the eagle - Referring to the mounting of this bird, when in casting its feathers and breeding new ones, it is very sickly…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16Make thee bald, poll - (literally, shear thee for thy delicate children Some special ways of cutting the hair were forbidden to the Israelites, as being idolatrous customs, such as the rounding the hair in front, cutting it away from the temples, or between the eyes Deuteronomy 14:1. All shearing of the hair was not forbidden; indeed to the Nazarite it was commanded, at the close of his vow. The removal of that chief ornament of the countenance wasa…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 8-16Verses 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…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16The people of Judah, including those from Jerusalem, were exiled to faraway lands in Babylonia in 605, 597, and 586 BC. Babylon was about 1,700 kilometers (1,000 miles) from Jerusalem. Shave yourselves: This was an act of mourning and despair (see also Jeremiah 41:5). It could also mean purification (Leviticus 14:7–10; Numbers 6:10–11).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. Make thee bald, &c.--a token of deep mourning (Ezr 9:3; Job 1:20). Mourn, O land, for thy darling children. poll--shave off thy hair. enlarge thy baldness--Mourn grievously. The land is compared to a mother weeping for her children. as the eagle--the bald eagle, or the dark-winged vulture. In the moulting season all eagles are comparatively bald (compare Psa 103:5).Read the comment

Topics related to Micah 1:16

• Baldness
• Eagle

In the dictionaries

• Baldness
• Heir
• Lie
• Roll
• Wail
• Cuttings in the Flesh
• Delicate; Delicately
• Eagle
• Micah (2)
• Poll

Commentaries on Micah 1

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings