Micheas 7:17
They shall lick the dust like serpents, as the creeping things of the earth, they shall be disturbed in their houses: they shall dread the Lord our God, and shall fear thee.
Open Micheas 7:17 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Lingent pulverem sicut serpentes ; velut reptilia terræ perturbabuntur in ædibus suis. Dominum Deum nostrum formidabunt, et timebunt te.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- λίξουσιν χοῦν ὡς ὄφις σύροντες γῆν, συγχυθήσονται ἐν συνκλεισμῷ αὐτῶν· ἐπὶ τῷ κυρίῳ θεῷ ἡμῶν ἐκστήσονται, καὶ φοβηθήσονται ἀπὸ σοῦ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- יְלַחֲכ֤וּ עָפָר֙ כַּנָּחָ֔שׁ כְּזֹחֲלֵ֣י אֶ֔רֶץ יִרְגְּז֖וּ מִמִּסְגְּרֹֽתֵיהֶ֑ם אֶל יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֵ֨ינוּ֙ יִפְחָ֔דוּ וְיִֽרְא֖וּ מִמֶּֽךָּ
Haydock's commentary
Serpents, (Genesis iii. 14.) out of respect or rage. (Calmet)
Converts shall humbly apply to the ministers of Christ to receive baptism and confirmation. (Theodoret; Sanct. lxvii.)
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 Cyprian Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews, Testimony XX
In the cxth Psalm: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Of the same thing in the Wisdom of Solomon: “The beginning of wisdom is to fear God.” Also in the Proverbs of the same: “Blessed is the man who reverences all things with fear.” Of the same thing in Isaiah: “And upon whom else will I look, except upon him that is lowly and peaceful, and that trembleth at my words?” Of this same thing in Genesis: “And the angel of the Lord called him from heaven, and said unto him, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm CXIV
5. Hear what is even more wonderful, that the hidden and veiled mysteries of the ancient books are in some degree revealed by the ancient books. For Micah the prophet speaketh thus. “According to the days of thy coming out of Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things, etc.…In this Psalm, therefore, although the wonderful spirit of prophecy doth look into the future, yet it seemeth, as it were, to be merely detailing to the past. “Judah,” he saith, “was His sanctuary: the sea saw that and fled:” “was,” “saw,” and “fled,” are words of the past tense; and “Jordan was driven back, and the mountains skipped, and the earth trembled,” in like manner have a past expression, without, however, any difficulty in understanding by them the future.…For though it was so long after the departure of that people from Egypt, and so long before these seasons of the Church, that he sang what I have quoted …
St Ambrose Concerning Repentance, Chapter XIII. They who have committed a “sin unto death” are not to be abandoned, but subjected to penance, according to St. Paul. Explanation of the phrase “Deliver unto Satan.” Satan can afflict the body, but these afflictions bring spiritual profit, showing the power of God, Who thus turns Satan's devices against himself
60. What the Apostle means by the rod is shown by his invective against fornication, his denunciation of incest, his reprehension of pride, because they were puffed up who ought rather to be mourning, and lastly, his sentence on the guilty person, that he should be excluded from communion, and delivered to the adversary, not for the destruction of the soul but of the flesh. For as the Lord did not give power to Satan over the soul of holy Job, but allowed him to afflict his body, so here, too, the sinner is delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the serpent might lick the dust of his flesh, but not hurt his soul.