Micheas 7:10
And my enemy shall behold, and she shall be covered with shame, who saith to me: Where is the Lord thy God? My eyes shall look down upon her: now shall she be trodden under foot as the mire of the streets.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et aspiciet inimica mea, et operietur confusione, quæ dicit ad me : Ubi est Dominus Deus tuus ? Oculi mei videbunt in eam : nunc erit in conculcationem ut lutum platearum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ὄψεται ἡ ἐχθρά μου καὶ περιβαλεῖται αἰσχύνην, ἡ λέγουσα πρὸς μέ Ποῦ Κύριος ὁ θεός σου; οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου ἐπόψονται αὐτήν, νῦν ἔσται εἰς καταπάτημα ὡς πηλὸς ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְתֵרֶ֤א אֹיַ֨בְתִּי֙ וּתְכַסֶּ֣הָ בוּשָׁ֔ה הָאֹמְרָ֣ה אֵלַ֔י אַיּ֖וֹ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהָ֑יִךְ עֵינַי֙ תִּרְאֶ֣ינָּה בָּ֔הּ עַתָּ֛ה תִּֽהְיֶ֥ה לְמִרְמָ֖ס כְּטִ֥יט חוּצֽוֹת
Haydock's commentary
She; Babylon, my enemy. (Challoner)
It was taken by the Medes and Persians, who set the Jews at liberty, to the great mortification of their enemies. (Worthington)
God thus displayed his justice or mercy, rescuing his people from the night of misery.
Streets. Cyrus treated the fallen city with contempt. It stood for some time afterwards. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Ambrose Concerning Repentance, Chapter VIII. In urging repentance St. Ambrose turns to his own case, expressing the wish that he could wash our Lord's feet like the woman in the Gospel, which is a great pattern of penitence, though such as cannot attain to it find acceptance. He prays for himself, especially that he may sorrow with sinners, who are better than himself. Those for whom Christ died are not to be contemned
78. Let us, then, not rejoice over the sin of any one, but rather let us mourn, for it is written: “Rejoice not against me, O my enemy, because I have fallen, for I shall arise; for if I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me, I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He maintain my cause, and execute judgment for me, and bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness. Mine enemy, too, shall see it and shall be covered with confusion, which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? Mine eyes shall behold her, and she shall be for treading down as the mire in the streets.” And this not unreservedly, for he who rejoices at the fall of another rejoices at the victory of the devil. Let us, then, rather mourn when we hear that one has perished for whom Christ died, Who despises not even the straw in time of harvest.