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.
• English Standard Version (ESV)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.
• 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.

Context of Micah 1:16

14Send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath; there is no hope of saving it. The town of Aczib has deceived the kings of Israel. 15O people of Mareshah, I will bring a conqueror to capture your town. And the leaders of Israel will go to Adullam. 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.

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 1:20Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship.
• Isaiah 15:2Your people will go to their temple in Dibon to mourn. They will go to their sacred shrines to weep. They will wail for the fate of Nebo and Medeba, shaving their heads in sorrow and cutting off their beards.
• Isaiah 22:12At that time the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, called you to weep and mourn. He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse.
• Jeremiah 6:26Oh, my people, dress yourselves in burlap and sit among the ashes. Mourn and weep bitterly, as for the loss of an only son. For suddenly the destroying armies will be upon you!
• Jeremiah 7:29Shave your head in mourning, and weep alone on the mountains. For the Lord has rejected and forsaken this generation that has provoked his fury.’
• Jeremiah 16:6Both the great and the lowly will die in this land. No one will bury them or mourn for them. Their friends will not cut themselves in sorrow or shave their heads in sadness.
• Amos 8:10I will turn your celebrations into times of mourning and your singing into weeping. You will wear funeral clothes and shave your heads to show your sorrow— as if your only son had died. How very bitter that day will be!
• Deuteronomy 28:56The most tender and delicate woman among you—so delicate she would not so much as touch the ground with her foot—will be selfish toward the husband she loves and toward her own son or daughter.
• Isaiah 3:16The Lord says, “Beautiful Zion is haughty: craning her elegant neck, flirting with her eyes, walking with dainty steps, tinkling her ankle bracelets.
• Lamentations 4:5The people who once ate the richest foods now beg in the streets for anything they can get. Those who once wore the finest clothes now search the garbage dumps for food.
• Deuteronomy 28:41You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, for they will be led away into captivity.
• 2 Kings 17:6Finally, in the ninth year of King Hoshea’s reign, Samaria fell, and the people of Israel were exiled to Assyria. They were settled in colonies in Halah, along the banks of the Habor River in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
• Isaiah 39:6‘The time is coming when everything in your palace—all the treasures stored up by your ancestors until now—will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will 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