This is the word of the Lord that was with Micah the Morashtite in the days of Yotam, Ahaz, and Yehizkiya, kings of Judah, which he envisioned concerning Samaria and Jerusalem:

Hear, all peoples; listen, earth and that which fills it; and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from His holy Sanctuary.

For behold, the Lord emerges from His place in a revelation of His glory, and He will descend and tread on the heights of the earth.

When He treads upon them, the mountains will melt under Him, each mountain in its place, and the valleys will burst like wax that melts before the fire, like water poured down a slope, leaving no trace.

Due to the transgression of Jacob is all this to occur, and due also to the sins of the house of Israel. What is the embodiment of the transgression of Jacob? Is it not the city of Samaria, which, in addition to the many other sins committed there, is full of idolatry? What are the shrines of Judah? Are they not a representation of Jerusalem? Offerings were supposed to be given only in the Temple, yet Jerusalem was filled with other shrines used, illegitimately, for offerings to God. This was sinful, and the existence of these shrines was a disgrace upon Judah.

Therefore, I will render the populated Samaria into a mound of stones in the field, and into a place for the planting of vineyards; and I will pour down into the nearby valley its stones. When Samaria collapses, the stones of its walls and buildings will crumble and descend into the valley. And I will reveal its foundations, when it is all ruined.

All its idols will be shattered, and all its prostitutes’ fees, referring to the gifts given in the city to idols, will be burned in fire, and all its images I will render desolation, as they, all its treasures, were collected from the fee of a prostitute, and they will revert to being the fee of a prostitute when they are destroyed. The city of Samaria is portrayed as a harlot, consorting with idols. The imagery of prostitution is meant to be taken literally; the prophet describes the city as full of both idolatry and licentiousness. The magnificent city of Samaria is built on degeneration and corruption, both religious and moral.

The prophet recites a lamentation: For this, the destruction of Samaria, I will lament and wail, I will go stripped of possessions and sense and be naked in my great misery; I will make a lament like the jackals, and a mourning like eagle owls. These creatures issue protracted wails that sound like the drawn-out howls of deep mourning.

For its, Samaria’s, wounds are mortal, for it, the wound, came until Judah; it, the destruction, reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.

In the Philistine city of Gat do not tell news of this disaster, so that our enemies do not rejoice at our downfall. A similar expression appears in David’s lament for Saul. Do not weep; roll about in the dust at Beit LeAfra. It will be impossible to even cry or wail over the troubles; people will have strength only to sit on the ground in silent mourning.

Pass on, inhabitant of Shafir, with nakedness exposed; Shafir has been disgraced. Alternatively, its inhabitants will be exiled naked. The inhabitant of Tzaanan did not go out to participate in the lament of the adjacent city Beit HaEtzel, perhaps out of selfishness, or because Tzaanan was besieged, or because its inhabitants were in hiding. Nevertheless, your security will be taken from you by the enemy who will destroy these places and send their inhabitants into exile. Some contend that Beit HaEtzel is not the name of a place, but is referring to the house of [beit] the nobles [atzilim], and the verse means that the inhabitants of Tzaanan will not escape, and the sufferings that will be inflicted upon the nobles will remove their standing and lofty status.

For the inhabitant of the city of Marot hoped for the best, but to no avail, as harm came down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem.

In order to flee, hitch the chariot to the swift steeds, inhabitant of Lakhish, a fortified city in Judah that was also conquered by the king of Assyria. It, Lakhish, was the beginning of sin for the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel. The corrupt deeds of the Kingdom of Israel were initially adopted by Judah in Lakhish.

Therefore, send tribute, or a tax, to Moreshet Gat; the houses of the city of Akhziv will be a falsity for the kings of Israel. Upon the downfall of the kings of Israel, it will become clear that it was impossible to rely on that city and its supposed security.

I will yet bring to you a dispossessor, your conqueror, inhabitant of Maresha. If Micah himself was indeed from Maresha, then he is speaking here of Judean cities in the vicinity of his birthplace. The glory of Israel will come as far as, it will sink, in Adulam.

Daughter of Zion, make yourself bald and shear your hair, remove the hair on your head as a sign of mourning, for the children of your delight; for the refined ones that once lived among you. This should not be merely a small, symbolic mark; rather, broaden your baldness like that of the vulture, for they, all the refined people, are exiled from you.

The prophet again admonishes the people. His criticism is directed mainly at the powerful ones who oppress and take advantage of the weak. Woe! The devisers of iniquity, who think sinful and wicked thoughts, and the evildoers who perform it, formulate their plans, on their beds at the morning light, because they simply have the power in hand to act as they wish.

They coveted fields and robbed them; desired houses, and took them; they exploited a man and his house, a person and his inheritance.

Therefore, so said the Lord: Behold, I am devising harm upon this family, the noble classes; it will be a burden from which you will not be able to move your necks, and not walk with your heads upright, as it is a time of harm.

On that day, a parable will be recounted about you, as you will become the subject of conversations and a symbol of woe, and a lamentation will be lamented by those who weep over the suffering, saying: We have been plundered by these people, who robbed and destroyed us; the portion of my people has been exchanged, as those powerful individuals exchanged our family inheritances as they desired. How can it be moved for me, to change my status and return our fields to their rightful owners and divide them? Many interpret this verse as referring to an external enemy that will come and seize the people’s fields.

Therefore, there will not be anyone who casts the line for you by lot, there will be no son of the members of this group who will merit an inherited portion, in the congregation of the Lord.

They, those wicked men, will preach to the prophets: Do not preach! Indeed, they will not preach to these, as there is no point in teaching morality to such people; they, the wicked, will not withdraw for humiliation over their actions. They do not understand the prophets’ reprimand, and it has no effect upon them at all.

Is this worthy of being said, house of Jacob, as those evil ones say, in objection to the prophets: Is the spirit of the Lord impatient? Does He not have patience? Are these troubles of which the prophets speak His exploits? Does the Lord always cause trouble? No, rather, are not My words beneficial to one who walks with the upright, whereas you do not deserve the good?

Yesterday My people was set as an enemy, one against the other, as each oppresses his neighbor; in exchange for a garment you would strip a mantle from unsuspecting passersby on the roads, from those returning from war. In exchange for your simple garment, you take the expensive mantles of others, and you even snatch the loot of those returning from war, without pangs of conscience.

The women of My people you banish from the house of her delight, and you take those women for yourselves; from their young children you take away My grandeur [hadari] forever. The many interpretations of hadari include: their mother, the garments of the poor, their houses or vessels, or sexual relations.

Therefore, you too arise and go, as this land is not the resting place; because it was defiled, it, the land, will wound you, and it will be an intense, powerful and painful, wound.

If a man is a wind walker, a peculiar individual, and deceived falsely by saying: I will preach to you of wine and of strong drink, he would be a preacher of this people. If a somewhat odd and mendacious person would present himself as a prophet and instruct the people to consume wine, he would be popular despite his eccentricities.

It is unclear whether the following is a statement of comfort or a description of the people’s punishment. I will gather all of you, Jacob; I will assemble the remnant of Israel; I will place them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in the midst of its sheepfold. They, the cities, will be crowded and boisterous with the people who will live there. This refers either to the return of Israel to their land and their cities after exile and the large population that they will become, or to the ingathering of the people to the cities due to fear of the enemy.

The meaning of this verse, too, is ambiguous. The one who breaks through, the king, the leader, went up before them; they broke through and passed the gate and exited from it; their king passed before them, and the Lord is at their head. If this is describing the continuation of the punishment, then it is referring to the exile, which includes the king, while God Himself accompanies Israel in its exile, as it were. Alternatively, the verse is speaking of someone who will form a new, upright passage for the people, and this king will lead them on the path of God.

I said: Hear now, leaders of Jacob, and officers of the house of Israel, is it not for you to know justice? Aren’t you supposed to know the laws and the upright path?

Yet instead you are haters of good and lovers of evil, robbers of the people, who remove their skin from upon them, and strip their flesh from upon their bones,

and you are those who ate the flesh of my downtrodden people, and flayed their skin from upon them, and cracked their bones; they slice it, the flesh, like is done to food that is cooked in the pot, and like meat cooked in a cauldron.

Then, when the time of their punishment arrives, they, those leaders, will cry out to the Lord, but He will not answer them. He will hide His face from them at that time, just as they themselves did evil in their exploits.

So said the Lord concerning the prophets, the thought leaders, similar to modern intellectuals, who act as false prophets and mislead my people, to those who provide them with what to chew with their teeth, they cry: Peace. If someone has anything to offer them which they can eat, they give him messages of peace and plenty. But he who will not put food in their mouths, they engage in war against him. One who does not pay them is accused of wrongdoing and is vilified by them.

Therefore, it will soon be night for you for vision, and it will be dark for you for divination, visions and divination will cease; and the sun will set on the prophets, and the day will dim over them.

The seers will be ashamed, and the diviners humiliated; they will all cover their lips, as there is no response from God. It was the custom of mourners to cover at least the lower part of the face, including the upper lip.

But I, the prophet, am filled with strength, with the spirit of the Lord, and justice, reproof, and might. I have received these qualities, among other reasons, in order to tell Jacob his transgression, and to tell Israel his sin. The false prophets merely predict success for their supporters and evil for those who do not offer them financial assistance. By contrast, a prophet who is filled with the spirit of God will succeed and continue to prophesy even when he does not flatter the powerful by stating solely that which they wish to hear.

Hear this now, heads of the house of Jacob, and officers of the house of Israel, who spurn justice, and everything upright they pervert. Literally, this means that they make crooked all straight paths.

These leaders are those who build up the city of Zion with blood, or financial exploitation, which is like the bleeding of the poor, and Jerusalem with iniquity, unfair deeds.

Its leaders judge for bribes, its priests give rulings for a price, in accordance with the pay they receive, and its prophets divine for money; but they rely on the Lord, saying: Isn’t the Lord in our midst? No harm will come upon us. The residents of Jerusalem erroneously think that the Temple of God will protect them from all evil.

Therefore, due to you, Zion will be plowed as a field. Despite your sense of security, your sins will cause the city to be destroyed and turn into a plowed field. And Jerusalem will become heaps of ruins, and the Temple Mount will turn into forested heights, an elevated area of vegetation, desolate of people.

It shall be in the end of days, at some later stage, that the mountain of the House of the Lord will be established and stand firm at the top of the mountains, and it will be elevated above the hills. This is possibly alluding to future topographical changes in the area of the Temple Mount. And many peoples, not only Israel, will stream to it like a river.

Many nations will go and say: Let us go, and ascend to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. These nations will not only wish to visit and see the grandeur of the Temple, but they will come to hear Torah: He will instruct us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For from Zion will come forth Torah and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. The word of God and the Torah of Israel will be the preoccupation not only of one small nation, but will attract the attention of many nations.

He, God, or he, the Messiah, redeemer of Israel, will adjudicate between many peoples, and He will rebuke, teach morals or issue the correct rulings, to mighty, distant nations. And at that time, wars will become redundant; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears they will turn into pruning hooks for cutting down branches; nation will not lift sword against nation and they will not learn war anymore.

They will sit, each person in tranquility and security under his vine and under his fig tree, which will give forth their fruits, and none will frighten them, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken, and He is faithful to His word.

For all the peoples will walk, each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. We know that in the end of days all people will honor God. Everyone will recognize that He is the true Source of all, He is the first, and He reigns over the world.

On that day – the utterance of the Lord – I will gather the lame flock, and I will assemble the outcasts, or those who are lost, and also those whom I harmed, all those that I have troubled, as everything ultimately comes from God.

And I will render the lame a remnant from which the nation will be revived, and the exhausted, for whom movement is difficult, or the distanced, I will turn into a mighty nation; and the Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion from now and forever.

And to you, Migdal Eder, the citadel, or hill, or high fortification, of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come from this place; the original kingdom of the Kingdom of Israel in all its glory will come and appear, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

Now, Jerusalem, why do you cry aloud? Is there no king among you? This might be referring to God, or to Jerusalem’s human king. Is your counselor, an official advisory position in the royal courtyard, lost, that pangs have overcome you like a woman in childbirth? Although you will have to deal with horrible events, they too will pass.

Therefore, writhe and sigh, tremble and moan, or bend over to bring forth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in childbirth, as now you will emerge from the city of Jerusalem, and will dwell in the field, in exile, and come to Babylon. But from there, you will be rescued; there, the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. Your redemption will start from that land.

Now many nations have gathered against you who say: Let it, Jerusalem, be destroyed and defiled, and let our eyes gaze on the downfall of Zion. The nations that gather to fight Israel will think that the time has arrived for Zion’s destruction.

They, the nations, do not know the thoughts of the Lord, and they do not understand His counsel, as He gathered them like sheaves of produce that are brought to the threshing floor for threshing.

Therefore, arise and thresh your enemies, daughter of Zion, for I will make your goring horn iron, and I will make your hooves bronze; you will crush many peoples. I will seize their gains for the Lord, and their riches, their property and strength, will be taken for the Lord of the entire earth. They are coming to besiege Jerusalem, but they will suffer their greatest downfall there.

Now muster yourself, daughter of troops; perhaps this is a reference to the Assyrian army. A siege is set against us; they strike the judge, leader, of Israel on the cheek with a rod. However, a short time later, Israel will arise again as a great nation, shake off its troubles, and smash the enemies that besiege it.

But you, resident of Bethlehem Efrata, young to be among the thousands of Judah. The Davidic royal family, which came from Bethlehem Efrata, was the youngest or least important family in the tribe of Judah. From you, this branch, one will emerge for Me to be a future ruler in Israel, his origin from ancient times, from days of old. Alternatively, this means that you are the place of origin of the king of Israel, from where he came forth.

Therefore, He will give them, Judah, up into the hands of strangers, until the time that a woman in childbirth gives birth, until the hour of the redemption, which is described as a birth accompanied by shock and fear (see 4:9–10); and the rest of his, the leader’s, brethren will return to their land with the children of Israel from the other tribes.

When the time comes he will stand, and that youth from the thousands of Judah will shepherd his flock of Israel with the strength of the Lord, with the majesty, the greatness, strength, and exaltedness of the name of the Lord his God, and they, all Israel, will settle down in their place in security, as now it, the glory of that king, will be great to the ends of the earth.

This shall be absolute peace: When Assyria will enter our land to harm us, and when it will tread in our palaces, we shall raise against it seven shepherds, and eight princes of men, rulers and military commanders. This may be a reference to a large group of warriors, a symbolic spiritual metaphor, or a reference to specific people and events. The Talmud cites a tradition that identifies the seven shepherds and eight princes as figures from biblical and Jewish history.

They, those warriors, will crush the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod, Assyria, at its gates, at the entrance to the land. And he, the king of Israel, will rescue us from Assyria, when it will come into our land and when it will tread within our border. Assyria will be considered the mightiest kingdom in that period, and the foremost military and political power in the region. The prophet is saying that when the time comes, Israel will have the strength to force the Assyrians to retreat to their land, where Israel will impose order.

At the end of days, it will be for the remnant of Jacob that is in the midst of many peoples, like the blessing of dew from the Lord, like the blessing of raindrops on vegetation that does not hope for a man and does not long for, depend upon, human beings. Grass receives all it requires naturally and has no need of artificial irrigation. Likewise, Israel will not depend on man.

The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, strong and secure like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, whom it does not fear; rather, they are afraid of the young lion; from whom, when he passes among them, and tramples and mauls as he wishes, there is no rescuer. When Israel reaches its exalted status, it will not require the assistance of others, and all will fear it.

The prophet addresses God: Your hand will be raised over Your foes, and all Your enemies will be eliminated. Some maintain that Micah is speaking to Israel here.

It shall be on that day – the utterance of the Lord – that I will eliminate your horses from your midst, and I will destroy your chariots of war, as they will no longer be needed. Like chariots, horses were used for battle at that time.

I will eliminate the walled cities of your land and I will destroy all your fortresses, as you will no longer need fortifications;

I will eliminate sorcery from your hand and you will not have soothsayers [me’onenim], a term indicating that they claim to reveal the future by referring to the appearance of clouds [ananim], or based on the seasons [onot], considering specific times to be auspicious for particular activities. The soothsayers and sorcerers, who are trusted by those who turn to them, and who help them divine the moves of their enemies, will also vanish from the world.

I will eliminate your idols and your monuments from your midst, and you will no longer worship the work of your hands.

I will uproot your sacred trees, trees of idol worship, from your midst, and I will destroy your enemies.

With wrath and with fury I will take vengeance upon the nations who did not heed My voice.

Hear now that which the Lord is saying to the prophet: Arise; quarrel with the dwellers in the mountains, and let those who reside in the hills hear your voice. Proclaim your admonishment to the entire land.

Hear, mountains, the Lord’s quarrel, and the strong foundations of the earth, as the Lord has a quarrel with His people, and with Israel He will contend. God has a dispute with Israel.

God states His claim against Israel: My people, what wrong did I do to you, and how did I exhaust you, by making your lives so difficult that you turn from Me and refuse to listen to My voice? Testify against Me.

For I took you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, your leaders, who took care of your every need.

Furthermore, My people, remember now what Balak king of Moav devised, to have you cursed, and what Bilam son of Beor answered him, bestowing a blessing. Also recall what happened to you in the same period, from Shitim to Gilgal, where your sons sinned with the daughters of Moav and Midyan and yet you were not assimilated into those nations; on the contrary, you overcame them. All this was in order to know the righteous and good acts of the Lord. This is the response to the claim that God has treated Israel unjustly.

The prophet responds to the other claim, that the service of God wearies Israel. With what shall I approach the Lord, and bow to God on high? How is it fitting to honor Him? Shall I approach Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? Does He want me to bring to Him expensive calves as burnt offerings?

Does the Lord desire thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of streams of oil? Shall I give my firstborn as the price for my transgression, the fruit of my belly in exchange for the sin of my soul? Does God want me to sacrifice my son to Him in order to atone for my sins?

God does not want choice burnt offerings or rivers of oil, nor does He request human sacrifice. He told you, man, what is good, and what the Lord demands from you: He is not asking for extraordinary deeds, but only to execute justice, to observe His statutes and laws, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God, by acting in a modest manner and leading a humble life. While you must recognize, thank, and praise God for all the miracles He has performed for you, He does not request extraordinary offerings from you, but unassuming deeds.

The voice of the Lord calls to the city through the word of the prophet, and wisdom will perceive Your name, to attend to the prophet’s counsel. Alternatively, this is an aside stated by the prophet: One who has wisdom will reflect and recognize Your name, God. Hear, you leaders, the rod [mateh] of your approaching punishment, or my reproof, and see who has ordained it, the retribution. Some explain that the prophet is referring to the leaders as perverters of [matei] justice.

Are there still storehouses of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and is there still use of the outrageous scant ephah; the wicked using false measures within commerce? Can such unjust practices be maintained?

Will I gain, will I profit, or can I find merit with scales of wickedness, scales that can be used for fraud, or with a pouch full of deceitful weights?

It is that city whose wealthy are filled with villainy, they commit acts of injustice and extortion that are not subject to the jurisdiction of the law, and its inhabitants spoke falsehood; their tongue is deceit in their mouth.

God states: I, too, have been made ill in smiting you. It is as though God Himself is wounded, as it were, from having to smite you over and over again for your sins. I am desolate for your sins, or I am amazed and I suffer due to your sins.

The prophet states the punishment for these sins: You will eat but you will not be satisfied, and your excrement will be within you; your digested foods will remain inside you, and you will be unable to expel them. You will extricate but you will not rescue. There are other interpretations of this clause: Even if you remove your children from danger, you will be unable to save them, or: You will try to move and advance, but your efforts will be unsuccessful. And those whom you manage to rescue, I will give to the sword. The enemy will consume everything.

You will sow but you will not reap; you will trample olives but you will not spread oil; and you will extract juice from grapes, but you will not drink wine. There are allusions here to the reproach given in the book of Deuteronomy.

The statutes of Omri king of Israel and all the actions of the house of Ahav will be preserved. You have not changed for the better. Although in Micah’s time the dynasty of Ahav no longer ruled over Israel, the prophet does not consider this fact significant. The rulers were different, but the form of government of the family of Omri and Ahav remained intact. And you follow their schemes so that I render you a desolation and its inhabitants, the inhabitants of the land, will be an object of whistling, as people will whistle in astonishment at them; and you, the leaders who are responsible, will bear the disgrace of My people.

The personality of the prophet is not a prominent feature of this book, but here he expresses his own feelings. A true prophet not only hears the word of God, he is also more sensitive than others to the people’s sins, flaws, and sorrows. Since he is aware of the forthcoming punishments, the suffering and pain of the entire nation rest on his shoulders. Woe is me, as I have become like the last of the fig harvest, the poor-quality figs that remain at the end of summer, like the gleanings, the lone grapes, of the grape harvest; there is no cluster to eat or first fig that my soul desires. The word cluster is a metaphor for great, righteous personalities. The prophet feels that he is in the company of small-minded, miserable people, and at the end of an era.

The prophet clarifies his meaning. The virtuous one, who excels in piety and righteousness, is lost from the land and the upright among people is no more. They all lie in wait for blood, monetary corruption ultimately leads to bloodshed; each man hunts his brother with a net.

They extend their hands to benefit the evildoer; they give bribes for evildoers to be exonerated. The prince solicits, he is not ashamed to ask explicitly for special favors, and the judge is ready to do the prince’s bidding for payment, a bribe; and the ostensibly great and respectable man speaks his selfish desires, or the desires that will do evil to his soul; and it is woven together. These people twist and subvert justice and integrity.

Their best is like a thornbush, a prickly plant used for fences; the upright is worse than a hedge, a partition of dry branches; on your day of expectation, when people anticipate good tidings, your decree, your decreed punishment, arrives; and now, when it arrives, will be their confoundedness.

Deception has spread everywhere. Do not trust a friend; do not rely on an official, important people and guides with whom you are on friendly terms; guard the pronouncements of your mouth even from she who lies in your bosom, your wife, she who is supposed to be entirely loyal to you; she hears everything, and might repeat your statements to those who should not hear them.

For the son is contemptuous to the father by speaking contemptibly about him, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law likewise rises up against her mother-in-law; the members of his household are a man’s enemies.

But I, I will await the Lord; I will long and hope for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

Do not rejoice, my enemy, about me; do not be happy, gentile nations, for what has befallen me. Though I fell, I will later rise; though I sit in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.

The prophet now speaks as the people’s representative: I will bear the anger of the Lord; I suffer and absorb blows, not without reason, but because I sinned against Him. Nevertheless, my troubles will last only until He will champion my cause and execute justice for me. When my sin has been cleansed, God will be with me. He will take me out from darkness into the light; I will behold His righteousness in His salvation or in His judgment.

My enemy will see my salvation, and shame will cover him. It was he, my enemy, who said to me: Where is the Lord your God? His presence is not felt at all. Now, therefore, my eyes will see it, my enemy’s disgrace; now he, my enemy, will be for trampling like mud in the streets, on which everyone steps.

If you, my enemy, expect that after the reversals you will suffer, there will come the day to build your fences; the time of that day will be constantly distant. That day is far from arriving.

There is a day of judgment and vengeance, and it will come against you, my enemy, from Assyria to the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the Euphrates River, and from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. The vengeance will strike throughout.

The land of the enemies will become a desolation together with its inhabitants, all from the fruit of their actions.

The book concludes with words of consolation, starting with a request to God: Shepherd Your people with Your staff. You alone rule over us, as we are the flock of Your inheritance, the people who dwell alone, just as You do. Tend to us in a forest that is in the midst of a fertile field, the Carmel, a region blessed with forestry and vegetation; let them, the children of Israel, graze in Bashan and Gilad, as in days of old. They will once again live in those places where they dwelled in the good years.

God replies: Like the days of your exodus from the land of Egypt, I will show it, my people, wonders. God will once again perform miracles and wonders as He did upon the exodus from Egypt.

Then nations will see and they will be ashamed for all their might, which will be useless for them against Israel. They will place hand over mouth, like one unable to speak, as they will have no reason to boast, and their ears will be deafened from astonishment.

They will lick dust like a snake, like crawlers of the earth; they will tremble in shock from their strongholds. Their sense of stability will be shattered. They will fear the Lord our God, and they will be afraid of You.

Who is God like You? There is no other who is bearing iniquity and overlooking transgression for the remnant of His inheritance, Israel. He does not maintain His wrath forever, because He desires kindness. Accordingly, He will have mercy upon us despite our imperfections.

He will again have mercy upon us; He will suppress or hide our iniquities, where they cannot be seen from above, as it were, and You will cast all their, Israel’s, sins into the depths of the sea, and the people will thereby be cleansed and purified.

You will give the truth [emet] of Your promise and assistance to Jacob, and kindness to Abraham, through their descendants. Grant us mercy and faithfulness, as You took an oath to our forefathers from days of old. Some explain that the term emet, which usually means truth, here denotes faithfulness.