Nahum 1:4

Nahum 1:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.
• New International Version (NIV)He rebukes the sea and dries it up; he makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither and the blossoms of Lebanon fade.
• English Standard Version (ESV)He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers.
• New King James Version (NKJV)He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, And dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, And the flower of Lebanon wilts.

Context of Nahum 1:4

2God is angry with the people in Nineveh. The Lord loves his people. But he is very angry with his enemies. He is so angry with them that he must punish them. He will be angry until he has killed his enemies. 3The Lord will punish those who do wrong things. But he does not get angry quickly. He is a powerful God. The Lord does not get angry quickly. But he gets angry when people do wrong things. Then he punishes those people. He is very powerful. You can see his power in the wind and the storms. The clouds are like dust that his feet shake. He can cause the sea and the rivers to become dry by one word. The fertile places of Bashan and Carmel become dry and the green forests of Lebanon die too. 5He causes the mountains to shake and he causes the hills to become flat. The earth and all the people in the world are afraid of God. 6Nobody can fight God when he is very angry. The Lord pours his anger out like fire and he breaks the rocks in his path.

Nahum 1:4 word by word

גּוֹעֵ֤ר בַּיָּם֙ וַֽיַּבְּשֵׁ֔הוּ וְכָל־הַנְּהָר֖וֹת הֶֽחֱרִ֑יב אֻמְלַ֤ל בָּשָׁן֙ וְכַרְמֶ֔ל וּפֶ֥רַח לְבָנ֖וֹן אֻמְלָֽל׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• He rebukethגָּעַרgâ‛ar · to rebukeH1605
• the seaיָםyâm · seaH3220
• and maketh it dryחָרֵבchârab chârêb · to dryH2717
• and drieth upיָבֵשׁyâbêsh · to witherH3001
• all the riversנָהָרnâhâr · riverH5104
• Bashanבָּשָׁןbâshân · BashanH1316
• languishethאָמַל'âmal · be weakH535
• and Carmelכַּרְמֶלkarmel · CarmelH3760
• and the flowerפֶּ֫רַחperach · flowerH6525
• of Lebanonלְבָנוֹןlebânôn · LebanonH3844

Cross-references for Nahum 1:4

• Job 38:11I said to the sea, “This is as far as you can come. You may come no further. Your powerful waves must stop there!”
• Psalms 104:7But when you shouted, the water went back. It ran away, when you shouted like thunder.
• Psalms 106:9He shouted at the Red Sea, and it became dry. He led his people through the middle of the deep water, as if they walked in a desert!
• Psalms 114:3The sea looked and ran away! Then the Jordan River turned back!
• Isaiah 50:2Nobody was there to meet me, when I came to help you. When I called out to you, nobody answered me. Do you think that my arm is too weak to rescue you? Am I not strong enough to save you? Look! I can speak to the sea so that it becomes dry! I can cause rivers to become deserts. Then the fish die because they have no water.
• Isaiah 51:10You made the sea become dry, so that there was a path through the deep water. The slaves that you rescued could then cross over.
• Amos 5:8The Lord made the groups of stars called Pleiades and Orion. The Lord changes the night into dawn, and he changes the day back to night again. He takes the water in the sea, and he pours it out as rain on the earth. The Lord is his name!
• Matthew 8:26Jesus said to them, ‘You should not be so afraid. You should trust me more than you do!’ Then he stood up and he spoke strongly to the wind and the water. ‘Stop!’ he said. Then the wind and the water became quiet again.
• Joshua 3:13Watch the priests who are carrying the Covenant Box. As soon as their feet touch the water of the river, you will see that the water stops running. It will rise up like a wall.’
• Psalms 74:15You caused springs and streams of water to appear. And you made large rivers become dry!
• Isaiah 19:5The water of the sea will become dry. The Nile river will also become dry and it will have no water in it.
• Isaiah 44:27I say to the deep sea, “Become dry!” and its streams become dry.
• Ezekiel 30:12I will cause the Nile river to become dry. I will put the land under the power of evil men. Foreigners will destroy the land of Egypt and everything that is in it. That is what I, the Lord, say.
• Isaiah 33:9The land itself is dry and useless. Lebanon's forest is dying. Sharon has become like a desert. The trees in Bashan and Carmel have no leaves.
• Amos 1:2Amos said, ‘The Lord speaks loudly from Zion. Yes, he shouts from Jerusalem. As a result, the green fields will become dry and the grass will die. There will be nothing for the sheep to eat. Even the grass on Mount Carmel mountain will die.’

Commentaries on Nahum 1:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4He rebuketh the sea - The Red Sea and the rivers: probably an allusion to the passage of the Red Sea and Jordan. The description of the coming of Jehovah, from the third to the sixth verse, is dreadfully majestic. He is represented as controlling universal nature. The sea and the rivers are dried up, the mountains tremble, the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at his presence. Bashan, Carmel, and Lebanon are withered and languish: streams of fire are…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4He rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry - Delivering His people, as He did from Pharaoh Psalm 106:9, the type of all later oppressors, and of antichrist. “His word is with power; to destroy them at once with one rough word (Wisd. 12:9). The restlessness of the barren and troubled sea is an image of the wicked. “And drieth up all the rivers” Isaiah 57:20, as He did Jordan. His coming shall be far more terrible than when all the hearts of the inhabitants of…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4Like clouds (Nahum 1:3) and mountains (1:5), oceans and rivers are under God's control. The Old Testament prophets often recall God's actions against the seas and rivers during the exodus (Exodus 15:8–10; 2 Samuel 22:16; Psalms 66:6; 77:16; Habakkuk 3:15). God's power over the waters challenged the myths of the ancient Canaanites, who believed the sea-god Yam controlled the oceans and rivers. Bashan, east of the Sea of Galilee, was known for its rich…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. rebuketh the sea--as Jesus did (Mt 8:26), proving Himself God (compare Is 50:2). Bashan languisheth--through drought; ordinarily it was a region famed for its rich pasturage (compare Joe 1:10). flower of Lebanon--its bloom; all that blooms so luxuriantly on Lebanon (Ho 14:7). As Bashan was famed for its pastures, Carmel for its corn fields and vineyards, so Lebanon for its forests (Is 33:9). There is nothing in the world so blooming that God cannot…Read the comment

Topics related to Nahum 1:4

• Bashan
• God
• Lebanon

In the dictionaries

• Bashan
• Carmel
• Lebanon
• Carmel, Mount Carmel
• the sea, the Great Sea, the western sea
• Adversary
• Lightning
• Vengeance
• Flowers
• Job, Book of

Commentaries on Nahum 1

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings