Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Micah 7:16 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 16. 16The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse pictures nations seeing, becoming ashamed of their power, covering mouths, and losing confident hearing.
Read It With
- Micah 7:14-17
Read Micah 7:16 with 7:14-17. This verse pictures nations seeing, becoming ashamed of their power, covering mouths, and losing confident hearing. The complete unit establishes this movement: The community asks the divine shepherd to restore pasture and show new-exodus wonders; the nations' humiliation and fear express reversed imperial power but do not license ethnic contempt or cruelty.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The prayer asks restored security in shepherd terms and prepares the final doxology by attributing deliverance to the LORD rather than human force. Within that movement, this verse pictures nations seeing, becoming ashamed of their power, covering mouths, and losing confident hearing.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“lay their hand upon their mouth”
In plain language: a gesture of silenced astonishment or shame
pictures nations seeing, becoming ashamed of their power, covering mouths, and losing confident hearing. Imperial self-confidence is silenced before divine action, not through a human campaign of humiliation.
Why it matters: The wording identifies this verse's distinct contribution to the complete unit.
How certain? strongWhat Remains True
Imperial self-confidence is silenced before divine action, not through a human campaign of humiliation.
How It Can Shape Life
- Resist boastful power without mocking ethnic or disabled people.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Micah 7:14-17 — The Shepherd Prayer Seeks New-Exodus CareSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Micah 7:14-17, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Micah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Mic.xml, 7:14-17
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Micah with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Micah PDF, printed pp. 1751, translation and notes on 7:14-17
Open source ↗