Later text
Micah 7:17BSB
They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will crawl from their holes in the presence of the LORD our God; they will tremble in fear of You.
Intertextuality Pair
Micah 7:17 → Genesis 3:14
Allusion
Earlier text
Genesis 3:14BSB
So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life.
Significance
Micah 7:17 describes the nations licking "dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground" (יְלַחֲכוּ עָפָר כַּנָּחָשׁ, yelachaku afar kannachash), deliberately recalling Genesis 3:14's curse on the serpent: "On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life." By applying the serpent's curse language to Israel's enemies, Micah identifies the hostile nations with the primordial adversary and portrays their ultimate humiliation in terms drawn from the Eden narrative. The nations who opposed God's people will share the serpent's degradation, crawling in fear before Yahweh and reduced to the posture of the cursed creature of Genesis 3. Micah's oracle specifies this posture further: the nations will "come trembling out of their holes" before the LORD, forced from their hiding places just as the serpent was reduced to open, undefended crawling.
- Found via
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
- Reference Type
- Allusion
- Connection Method(s)
- Longitudinal Theme
Linked Mentions 2