properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
Gath
בְּגַת֙be.Gat
H1661
Gath · preposition + proper noun, a place name
weep
בָּכ֖וֹba.Kho
H1058
to weep · verb, qal infinitive absolute
all
תִּבְכּ֑וּtiv.Ku
H1058
to weep · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine plural
Aphrah
בְּבֵ֣יתbe.Veit
H1036
Beth-le-Aphrah · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
roll
הִתְפַּלָּֽשִׁיhit.pa.la.she.ti
H6428
to roll (in dust) · verb, hithpael imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
dust
עָפָ֖ר'a.Far
H6083
dust (as powdered or gray) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Samuel 1:20 Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the unci…
Jeremiah 6:26 O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentat…
Job 2:8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.
Lamentations 3:29 He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope.
Amos 5:13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
Amos 6:10 And a man’s uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Micah 1:8–end
We have here a long train of mourners attending the funeral of a ruined kingdom.
I. The prophet is himself chief mourner (Mic 1:8, Mic 1:9): I will wail and howl; I will go stripped and naked, as a man distracted with grief. The prophets usually expressed their own grief for the public grievances, partly to mollify the predictions of them, and to make it appear that is was not out of ill-will that they denounced the judgments of God (so far were they from desiring the woeful day that they dreaded it more than any thing), partly to show how very dreadful and mournful the calamities would be, and to stir up in the people a holy fear of them, that by repentance they might turn away the wrath of…
Declare ye it not at Gath--on the borders of Judea, one of the five cities of the Philistines, who would exult at the calamity of the Hebrews (Sa2 1:20). Gratify not those who exult over the falls of the Israel of God.
weep ye not at all--Do not betray your inward sorrow by outward weeping, within the cognizance of the enemy, lest they should exult at it. RELAND translates, "Weep not in Acco," that is, Ptolemais, now St. Jean d'Acre, near the foot of Mount Carmel; allotted to Asher, but never occupied by that tribe (Jdg 1:31); Acco's inhabitants would, therefore, like Gath's, rejoice at Israel's disaster. Thus the parallelism is best carried out in all the three clauses of the verse, and t…
Declare ye it not at Gath - Do not let this prediction be known among the Philistines, else they will glory over you.
House of Aphrah - Or, Beth-aphrah. This place is mentioned Jos 18:23, as in the tribe of Benjamin. There is a paronomasia, or play on words, here: בבית לעפרה עפר bebeith leaphrah aphar, "Roll thyself in the dust in the house of dust."
John Gill on Micah 1:10
Declare ye it not at Gath,.... A city of the Philistines, put for all the rest: the phrase is borrowed from 2 Samuel 1:20; where the reason is given, and holds good here as there; and the sense is, not that the destruction of Israel, or the invasion of Judea, or the besieging of Jerusalem, could be hid from the Philistines; but that it was a thing desirable, was it possible, since it would be matter of rejoicing to them, and that would be an aggravation of the distress of Israel and Judah:
weep ye not at all; that is, before the Philistines, or such like enemies, lest they should laugh and scoff at you; though they had reason to weep, and did and ought to weep in secret; yet, as much as in…
The Church Fathers
(Vers. 10 seq.) In Geth, do not announce, do not weep with tears, sprinkle yourselves with dust in the house of dust: pass by, you inhabitants of Saphir (Beautiful), confused with disgrace, she who dwells in Sennan (Exit) has not come out. The lament of the house of Asel (Neighboring) will receive you: she who stood for herself, because she is weakened in good, she who dwells in Maroth (Bitterness): for evil descends from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem. The tumult of chariots has amazed the inhabitants of Lachish, the beginning of sin is the daughter of Zion: for in you were found the wickedness of Israel? Therefore, He will send messengers over the inheritance of Gath: the houses of falsehood for deceit to the kings of Israel. Yet I will bring the heir to you, O inhabitant of Mareshah; to Adullam the glory of Israel will come. LXX: Those in Gath, do not boast; those in Beth-leaphrah, do not rebuild the house of mockery: sprinkle your mockery on the land, you who inhabit the towns! The inhabitant of Sennacherib has not come forth. Mourn for the house near her; it will receive a blow of sorrow, who has taken for good what dwells in sorrow? For evils have come down from the Lord upon the gates of Jerusalem. The sound of chariots and horsemen is heard in Lachish: the prince of sin is the daughter of Zion: for in you have been found the iniquities of Israel. Therefore, he will give emissaries to the inheritance of Gath: empty houses: they have been in vain for the kings of Israel: until I bring heirs to you, who dwell in Lachish, the inheritance will come as far as Odollam. The Hebrew greatly disagrees with the Septuagint translation, and both translations are involved in such great difficulties, both mine and theirs, that if at any time we are in need of the Spirit of God (but we always need His coming in the interpretation of holy Scriptures), now especially we desire Him to be present and to unfold what He has said in the prophets, so that it may also be understood about us, as He deigns to promise elsewhere: Open your mouth, and I will fill it (Ps. LXXX, 11). Moreover, as the history of the kingdom also testifies (1 Samuel 17), Gath is one of the five cities of Palestine, near the border of Judah, and as one travels from Eleutheropolis to Gaza, it is now just a small village or even a large hamlet, where that Philistine giant Goliath, whom David killed…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Aphrah — (dust), The house of, a place mentioned in (Micah 1:10) Its site is uncertain.
Beth-le-Aphrah — (R.V. Micah 1:10), house of dust. The Authorized Version reads “in the house of Aphrah.” This is probably the name of a town in the Shephelah, or “low country,” between Joppa and Gaza.
Aphrah · A city — A city
Beth-El-Aphrah (R. V.) Aphrah (A. V.) · A place in Philistia — A place in Philistia
Gath · 13:3; — 13:3;
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Micah 1:10
10. Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.
10. In Gath ne annuntietis, flendo ne fleatis; [69] propter domum Aphrah pulvere te involve (vel, voluta te in pulvere.)
The Prophet seems here to be inconsistent with himself: for he first describes the calamity that was to be evident to all; but now he commands silence, lest the report should reach the enemies. But there is here nothing contradictory; for the evil itself could not be hid, since the whole kingdom of Israel would be desolated, the cities demolished or burnt, the whole country spoiled and laid waste, and then the enemies would enter the borders of Judah: and when…
The judgment will not stop at Samaria, however, but spread over Judah. The prophet depicts this by saying that he will go about mourning as a prisoner, to set forth the misery that will come upon Judah (Mic 1:8, Mic 1:9); and then, to confirm this, he announces to a series of cities the fate awaiting them, or rather awaiting the kingdom, by a continued play upon words founded upon their names (Mic 1:10-15); and finally he summons Zion to deep mourning (Mic 1:16). Mic 1:8. "Therefore will I lament and howl, I will go spoiled and naked: I will keep lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches. Mic 1:9. For her stripes are malignant; for it comes to Judah, reaches to the gate o…
The cities listed were in the lowlands of southwestern Judah’s coastal areas. The sequence may represent the Assyrian army’s march down the coastal plain and from there into Judah’s heartland in 703–701 BC.
Rashi on Micah 1:10
Do not declare it in Gath—lest the Philistines rejoice about us.
in the houses of Aphrah—This is Ophrah of the Abiezrites (Jud. 6:11).
wallow in the dust Heb. הִתְפַּלָּשִׁי, a play on words with the name Philistia (פְּלֶשֶת). Similarly, (verse 11) “You inhabitant of Shafir, with your private parts exposed.” Similarly, (verse 11) “The inhabitant of Zanaan has not gone forth.” In all of these, the language of the lamentation is according to the name of the city. wallow Heb. הִתְפַּלָּשִׁי, roll. According to the context, cover yourself with dust.
