Micah 7:17

King James Version with Strong's Numbers

They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

יְלַחֲכ֤וּ עָפָר֙ כַּנָּחָ֔שׁ כְּזֹחֲלֵ֣י אֶ֔רֶץ יִרְגְּז֖וּ מִמִּסְגְּרֹֽתֵיהֶ֑ם אֶל־יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֵ֙ינוּ֙ יִפְחָ֔דוּ וְיִֽרְא֖וּ מִמֶּֽךָּ׃

Transliteration

They will yəlaḥăkû ʿāpār like-the-nāḥāš, like-zōḥălê ʾereṣ; they will yirgəzû from their misgərōtêhem, to-YHWH our ʾĕlōhênû they will yipḥādû, and they will yîrʾû from you.

Grammar Details

• *yəlaḥăkû*: Piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural - they will lick
• *ʿāpār*: masculine singular noun - dust
• *ka-nāḥāš*: preposition + definite article + masculine singular noun - like the serpent
• *kə*: preposition - like
• *zōḥălê*: Qal participle, masculine plural construct - crawlers of
• *ʾereṣ*: feminine singular noun - earth/ground
• *yirgəzû*: Qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural - they will tremble
• *mi-misgərōtêhem*: preposition + feminine plural noun with 3rd person masculine plural suffix - from their strongholds
• *ʾel*: preposition - to
• *YHWH*: divine name - Yahweh/the LORD
• *ʾĕlōhênû*: masculine plural noun with 1st person plural suffix - our God
• *yipḥādû*: Qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural - they will dread/fear
• *wə*: conjunction - and
• *yîrʾû*: Qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural - they will fear
• *mimmekā*: preposition with 2nd person masculine singular suffix - because of you

Word Meanings

• *yəlaḥăkû ʿāpār*: they will lick dust/eat dirt
• *nāḥāš*: serpent/snake
• *zōḥălê ʾereṣ*: crawlers of earth/things that crawl on ground
• *yirgəzû*: they will tremble/be agitated/come trembling
• *misgərōtêhem*: their strongholds/fortresses/hiding places
• *yipḥādû*: they will dread/be in awe/fear
• *yîrʾû*: they will fear/be afraid/be in awe

Referenced Verses

• Isa 49:23 : 23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
• Ps 72:9 : 9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow{H8799)} before him; and his enemies{H8802)} shall lick{H8762)} the dust.
• Ps 18:45 : 45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.
• Isa 2:19-21 : 19 And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 20 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; 21 To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
• Isa 25:3 : 3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
• Gen 3:14-15 : 14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
• Exod 15:14-16 : 14 The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. 15 Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. 16 Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.
• Josh 2:9-9 : 9 And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. 10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 11 And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
• Josh 9:24 : 24 And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the LORD thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing.
• 1 Sam 14:11 : 11 And both of them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines: and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves.
• Ps 9:20 : 20 Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.
• Isa 59:19 : 19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
• Isa 60:14 : 14 The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
• Isa 64:2 : 2 As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!
• Isa 65:25 : 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
• Jer 16:16 : 16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
• Jer 33:9 : 9 And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.
• Lam 3:29 : 29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
• Zech 14:5 : 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
• Rev 3:9 : 9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
• Rev 6:15-17 : 15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
• Rev 18:9-9 : 9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, 10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.