Bible Strands
Micah 1:8
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Micah speaks on behalf of God, delivering a declaration of judgment immediately after condemning Samaria’s idolatry in Micah 1:7 and before warning that the coming ruin has reached Jerusalem in Micah 1:9.
The words — The Hebrew אֶסְפְּדָה ('es.pe.Dah) literally means "I will lament," paired with שׁוֹלָל (shi.lal), which translates directly to "barefoot," describing the prophet’s enacted sign of mourning.
The thread — The prophetic sign of walking barefoot and naked appears again in Isaiah 20:2 as a warning of coming captivity, while the jackal and ostrich mourning imagery parallels the desolation described in Job 30:29.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that divine judgment is irreversible and requires the prophet to physically embody the coming desolation, forcing the audience to confront the tangible reality of their impending ruin.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
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.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 20:2 the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.” And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.
- Isaiah 22:4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
- Job 30:29 I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.
- Psalms 102:6 I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.
- Isaiah 13:21 But desert creatures will lie down there, and howling creatures will fill her houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about.
- Isaiah 16:9 So I weep with Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer fruit and your harvest.
- Isaiah 21:3 Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see.
- Jeremiah 4:19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm of battle.
- Jeremiah 9:1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
- Jeremiah 9:10 I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away.