The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might. They shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent. They shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord our God and shall fear because of thee. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again. He will have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham which thou has God.

A minor prophet? Well, in terms of the length of his book, yes compared to others of the prophets. But the minor prophets were also moved by the Spirit of God to write the things that they did and to them were also entrusted major doctrines and great and wonderful truths. The context in which this prophecy was given was a time when the fortunes of God’s people were outwardly at least at low ebb. They were in difficulty. The time was foreseen when from their darkness that was enshrouding them, from their difficulties they would arise. Though there were nations that laughed them to scorn and who said (as we see in verse 10) ‘where is the Lord thy God?’, we will see eventually the triumph of God’s people and those nations will lick the dust. They will have to admit that they were wrong.