New King James Version
Nahum 1:4
4He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, And dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, And the flower of Lebanon wilts.
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 Living Translation (NLT)At his command the oceans dry up, and the rivers disappear. The lush pastures of Bashan and Carmel fade, and the green forests of Lebanon wither.
Context of Nahum 1:4
2God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies; 3The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord has His way In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, And dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, And the flower of Lebanon wilts. 5The mountains quake before Him, The hills melt, And the earth heaves at His presence, Yes, the world and all who dwell in it. 6Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, And the rocks are thrown down by Him.
Read all of Nahum 1Nahum 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 38:11When I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!’
- Psalms 104:7At Your rebuke they fled; At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.
- Psalms 106:9He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up; So He led them through the depths, As through the wilderness.
- Psalms 114:3The sea saw it and fled; Jordan turned back.
- Isaiah 50:2Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Indeed with My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink because there is no water, And die of thirst.
- Isaiah 51:10Are You not the One who dried up the sea, The waters of the great deep; That made the depths of the sea a road For the redeemed to cross over?
- Amos 5:8He made the Pleiades and Orion; He turns the shadow of death into morning And makes the day dark as night; He calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth; The Lord is His name.
- Matthew 8:26But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
- Joshua 3:13And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.”
- Psalms 74:15You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up mighty rivers.
- Isaiah 19:5The waters will fail from the sea, And the river will be wasted and dried up.
- Isaiah 44:27Who says to the deep, ‘Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers’;
- Ezekiel 30:12I will make the rivers dry, And sell the land into the hand of the wicked; I will make the land waste, and all that is in it, By the hand of aliens. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
- Isaiah 33:9The earth mourns and languishes, Lebanon is shamed and shriveled; Sharon is like a wilderness, And Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.
- Amos 1:2And he said: “The Lord roars from Zion, And utters His voice from Jerusalem; The pastures of the shepherds mourn, And the top of Carmel withers.”
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
In the dictionaries
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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries