cover their lips - The Orientals prided themselves on the moustache and beard (“upper lip,” Margin). To cover it, therefore, was a token of shame and sorrow (Lev 13:45; Eze 24:17, Eze 24:22). “They shall be so ashamed of themselves as not to dare to open their mouths or boast of the name of prophet” [Calvin].
there is no answer of God - They shall no more profess to have responses from God, being struck dumb with calamities (Mic 3:6).