Micah 1:9

9 For wound thereof is despaired; for it came till to Judah, it touched the gate of my people, till to Jerusalem. (For its wound is incurable; for it came unto Judah, and it touched the gate of my people, yea, it came unto Jerusalem.)

Micah 1:9 Meaning and Commentary

Micah 1:9

For her wound [is] incurable
Or her "stroke [is] desperate" F5. The ruin of Samaria, and the ten tribes, was inevitable; the decree being gone forth, and they hardened in their sins, and continuing in their impenitence; and their destruction was irrevocable; they were not to be restored again, nor are they to this day; nor will be till the time comes that all Israel shall be saved: or "she is grievously sick of her wounds"; just ready to die, upon the brink of ruin, and no hope of saving her; this is the cause and reason of the above lamentation of the prophet: and what increased his grief and sorrow the more was, for it is come unto Judah;
the calamity has reached the land of Judah; it stopped not with Israel or the ten tribes, but spread itself into the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin; for the Assyrian army, having taken Samaria, and carried Israel captive, in a short time, about seven or eight years, invaded Judea, and took the fenced cities of Judah in Hezekiah's time, in which Micah prophesied; he is come unto the gate of my people, [even] to Jerusalem;
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, having taken the fenced cities, came up to the very gates of Jerusalem, and besieged it, where the courts of judicature were kept, and the people resorted to, to have justice done them; and Micah, being of the tribe of Judah, calls them his people, and was the more affected with their distress.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 (hytwkm hvwna) "desperata est plaga ejus", V. L. "plagae ejus", Montanus, Drusius.

Micah 1:9 In-Context

7 And all graven images thereof shall be beaten together, and all hires thereof shall be burnt in fire; and I shall put all the idols thereof into perdition; for of the hires of an whore those be gathered, and to hire of an whore those shall turn again. (And all its carved idols shall be altogether broken, and all its images, or all its figures, shall be burned in the fire; and so I shall put all its idols into perdition; for they be bought with the wages of a whore, and they shall return to the wages of a whore.)
8 On this thing I shall wail and yell, I shall go spoiled and naked; I shall make wailing as of dragons, and mourning as of ostriches. (On this thing I shall wail and yell, I shall go robbed of my clothes and naked; I shall wail like the jackals, and mourn like the owls.)
9 For wound thereof is despaired; for it came till to Judah, it touched the gate of my people, till to Jerusalem. (For its wound is incurable; for it came unto Judah, and it touched the gate of my people, yea, it came unto Jerusalem.)
10 In Gath do not ye tell (it), by tears weep ye not; in the house of dust with dust (al)together sprinkle you. (Do not ye tell it out in Gath, weep ye not with tears; in Beth-aphrah sprinkle yourselves all over with dust.)
11 And ye (of) a fair dwelling, pass to you, which is confounded with evil fame; it is not gone out, which dwelleth in the going out; a nigh house shall take of you wailing, which stood to itself. (And ye of Shaphir, go ye away, shamed with evil fame, or with ill repute; they who live in Zaanan be afraid to go out; they of Beth-ezel shall wail, and there shall be no refuge there.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.