MIC 7:16 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV) The nations will see and be ashamed of all their power.
⇔ They’ll put their hands over their mouths—
⇔ and act like their ears are deaf.

Key: khaki:verbs.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

BrLXX Ὄψονται ἔθνη καὶ καταισχυνθήσονται, καὶ ἐκ πάσης τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτῶν, ἐπιθήσουσι χεῖρας ἐπὶ τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν, τὰ ὦτα αὐτῶν ἀποκωφωθήσεται,
(Opsontai ethnaʸ kai kataisⱪunthaʸsontai, kai ek pasaʸs taʸs isⱪuos autōn, epithaʸsousi ⱪeiras epi to stoma autōn, ta ōta autōn apokōfōthaʸsetai, )

BrTr The nations shall see and be ashamed; and at all their might they shall lay their hands upon their mouth, their ears shall be deafened.

ULT The nations will see and be ashamed
⇔ of all their power.
⇔ They will put their hands on their mouths;
⇔ their ears will be deaf.

UST People from many nations will see what Yahweh does for you,
⇔ and they will be ashamed
⇔ because they do not have any power.
⇔ They will put their hands over their mouths and their ears because they will be very amazed at what Yahweh does.
⇔ They will not be able to say anything or hear anything, because they will be terrified.

OEB Nations will see and be ashamed of all their might;
⇔ they will put their hands to their mouth, their ears will become deaf,

WEBBE The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might.
⇔ They will lay their hand on their mouth.
⇔ Their ears will be deaf.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET Nations will see this and be disappointed by all their strength,
⇔ they will put their hands over their mouths,
⇔ and act as if they were deaf.

LSV Nations see, and they are ashamed of all their might,
They lay a hand on the mouth, their ears are deaf.

FBV The nations will see, and they will be humiliated despite their strength. They will cover their mouths with their hands, and their ears shall become deaf.

T4T ⇔ People from many nations will see what Yahweh does for you,
⇔ and they will be ashamed
⇔ because they do not have any power.
⇔ They will put their hands over their mouths and their ears because they will be very amazed because of what Yahweh does,
⇔ and they will not be able to say anything or hear anything.

LEB • The nations will see and be ashamed because of all their might.
• They will lay the hand on the mouth;
• their ears will be deaf.

BBE The nations will see and be shamed because of all their strength; they will put their hands on their mouths, their ears will be stopped.

Moff Let the nations despair of their might,
⇔ at the sight!
⇔ Let them cover their mouths,
⇔ struck dumb and deaf,

JPS The nations shall see and be put to shame for all their might; they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.

ASV The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hand upon their mouth; their ears shall be deaf.

DRA The nations shall see, and shall be confounded at all their strength: they shall put the hand upon the mouth, their ears shall be deaf.

YLT See do nations, and they are ashamed of all their might, They lay a hand on the mouth, their ears are deaf.

Drby — The nations shall see, and be ashamed for all their might: they shall lay [their] hand upon [their] mouth, their ears shall be deaf.

RV The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.

SLT The nations shall see and be ashamed from all their strength: they shall put the hand upon the mouth, their ears shall be deaf.

Wbstr The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.

KJB-1769 ¶ The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.

KJB-1611 ¶ The nations shall see, and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand vpon their mouth: their eares shall be deafe.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation)

Bshps This shall the heathen see, and be ashamed for all their power: so that they shall lay their hande vpon their mouth, and stoppe their eares.
(This shall the heathen see, and be ashamed for all their power: so that they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, and stop their ears.)

Gnva The nations shall see, and be confounded for all their power: they shall lay their hande vpon their mouth: their eares shall be deafe.
(The nations shall see, and be confounded for all their power: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth: their ears shall be deaf. )

Cvdl This shal the Heithen se, and be a?shamed for all their power: so that they shal laye their honde vpon their mouth, and stoppe their eares.
(This shall the Heathen see, and be a?shamed for all their power: so that they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, and stop their ears.)

Wycl hethene men schulen se, and thei schulen be confoundid on al her strengthe; thei schulen putte hondis on her mouth, the eris of hem schulen be deef;
(heathen men should see, and they should be confoundid on all her strength; they should put hands on her mouth, the ears of hem should be deaf;)

Luth daß die Heiden sehen, und alle ihre Gewaltigen sich schämen sollen und die Hand auf ihren Mund legen und ihre Ohren zuhalten.
(that the heathens see, and all their/her mighty_(ones) itself/yourself/themselves ashamed should and the hand on/in/to your(pl) mouth place and their/her ears zuhalten.)

ClVg Videbunt gentes, et confundentur super omni fortitudine sua. Ponent manum super os, aures eorum surdæ erunt.
(Seebunt people/nations, and they_will_be_confused over all with_courage his_own. Ponent hand over os, ears their deaf(pl) they_will_be. )

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 7:14–20: A prayer to the LORD for restoration, and praise for his mercy

This section has two main parts. The first part, 7:14–17, contains prayers to the LORD for the restoration of his people and the defeat of their enemies. The second part, 18–20, is a hymn of praise to the LORD for his compassion and his faithful relationship with Israel. These Notes and the Display will assume that the main speaker is Micah, who speaks as a representative of the people.This suggestion is favored by EBC, JFB, TOTC, Mangum, and Waltke 2007. Commentators who suggest that the speaker is the people, collectively, include Achtemeier, NICOT, WBC, and UBS. However, in 7:15 and in 18–20 there are brief changes of speaker and/or addressee. See the notes under paragraph 7:14–17 and under paragraph 7:18–20 for more detailed discussion.

Here are some other examples of section headings:

Prayer and Praise (NIV)

The Lord’s compassion on Israel (NLT)

Paragraph 7:14–17

The Notes and the Display will follow the paragraph description below:

In 7:14 Micah prayed to the LORD on behalf of the people.
In 7:15 the LORD told how he would answer the prayer.
In 7:16–17 Micah prayed again based on the answer that the LORD gave in 7:15.
Some versions place paragraph headings here. These are some examples:
A prayer for the Confusion of Zion’s Enemies (NJB)
Micah’s Prayer and the Lord’s Answer (CEV)

7:16–17

In these verses, Micah was again the speaker. He prayed that the LORD would show these marvelous things both to the people of Israel and to the people of other nations. He also prayed that the people in those nations would respond by acknowledging the greatness of the LORD.

7:16a–c

Notice the parallel parts that are similar in meaning:

^16aThe nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their might.

^16bThey will put their hands over their mouths,

^16cand their ears will become deaf.

In these lines, Micah prayed that the marvelous things, which the LORD would show the nations, would have strong impact on them.

Some versions translate these lines in a way that more clearly indicates a prayer. For example:

Let nations behold and be ashamed despite all their might; let them put hand to mouth; let their ears be deafened! (NJPS)

7:16a

Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their might.

Nations will see this and will be ashamed of all their might.
When the nations see your wonders, they will be shamed because all their strength will be useless to them.
Let the nations feel shame when they see your miracles. May they understand how weak they are when they compare all their power to yours.

Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their might: In this line, Micah prayed that the people of the nations would feel shame as a result of seeing the power of the LORD. The phrase be ashamed, deprived of all their might implies a comparison to the might of the LORD. The nations would feel shame because the power of the LORD showed how weak they really were.

Here are some other ways to translate this line:

When the nations see those miracles, they will no longer brag about their power. (NCV)

Nations will see this and be ashamed because of their helpless armies. (CEV)

The nations will see this and be frustrated in spite of all their strength. (GNT)

Nations: This phrase refers to nations other than Israel. They were nations of people who did not follow the LORD. They included Israel’s enemies.Waltke 2007 (page 442) suggests that these were pagan people, in contrast to the LORD’s people. Also, UBS and Pusey.

see: In Hebrew, this word means “see” or “realize.”Mounce (page 1037). In this context the word probably had both meanings. The word see had a literal meaning because they would see miracles of the LORD with their own eyes. The word also had a figurative meaning because they would realize how weak they were by comparison.

7:16b

They will put their hands over their mouths, and their ears will become deaf.

In shock they will cover their mouths and be deaf to the sounds around them.
In dismay they will be unable to speak or hear.
May they be struck with shock and awe.

They will put their hands over their mouths, and their ears will become deaf: In Hebrew, it is common to refer to attitudes and emotions by mentioning parts of the body (mouths, ears) that are associated with those attitudes and emotions.

The gesture of laying a hand over a mouth and the description of deaf ears are probably two ways of indicating the emotional effect that the power of the LORD had on the nations. This would include humiliation, shock, awe, and other emotions that the nations felt.TOTC (page 224) proposes that these expressions signify their humiliation. Davis (page 159) suggests shock and wonder. NAC (page 132) suggests awe and amazement. See also EBC, ABC and UBS for similar proposals.

The gesture of a person covering their mouth probably describes a literal action with symbolic meaning.UBS (page 259). However, the description of their ears being deaf was probably not meant literally.The NET footnote on these lines suggests that the opposing nations will be left dumbfounded by the LORD’s power. Their inability to respond will make them appear to be deaf mutes. KD (page 347) cite Job 26:14 “who can understand the thunder of his power.” This verse in Job does not mention deaf ears. However, the expression “their ears will be deaf” may describe the same kind of impact on a person that Job experienced. The expression may express their inability to comprehend the greatness of his awesome power.

In some languages these references to parts of the body may not have the same meaning as they do in Hebrew. If that is true in your language, here are some other ways to translate 7:16b–c: