Nahum 1:4
in Nahum 1He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.
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.
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This verse in Nahum 1
Commentary
9 notes on this verseHe 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 poured out, and the rocks are cast down to make him a passage.
This site's exposition
He rebuketh the sea
on Nahum 1:4-6
The sea dried and the rivers drained recall the Red Sea and the Jordan both stopped at the Lord's rebuke, the same verb of command the Exodus and Joshua narratives use, and the bench reads the memory as deliberate. Bashan, Carmel and Lebanon were the most fertile ground the land had, cattle country, orchard country, forest country, and naming all three languishing together is a merism for the whole earth withering before him. The mountains quaking and the hills melting lead to the question no one in the chapter answers until the next verse gives the Lord's own people their exception.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 2 -- On Faith · Written before 523.
proposed
And the Prophet said, "He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers;" and again, "He looketh on the earth and it trembleth; He rebuketh the mountains, and they smoke." And again the prophet Isaiah saith, "All the nations are …
If it is [Marcion's] Christ that is meant, he will not be stronger than the servants of the Creator. I would have been content with the examples I have shown you without adding anything further. But here a prediction of [Christ] walking on the water precedes his advent as well. The words of the psalm are, in fact, accomplished by Christ's crossing over the lake. "The Lord," says the psalmist, "is upon many waters." When he scatters its waves, Habakkuk's words are fulfilled where he says, "scattering the waters as he walks." When at his rebuke the sea is calmed, Nahum is also verified: "He rebukes the sea and makes it dry," referring to the winds that had disturbed the sea.
(Verse 4) Rebuking the sea, and drying it up, and leading all the rivers to the desert. It is described according to the power of God, who will avenge Israel's adversaries, showing that it is not difficult for Him to destroy the Assyrians, whose majesty even includes the ability to change the elements.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
A particular application of this (as most interpreters think) to the destruction of Sennacherib and the Assyrian army, when they besieged Jerusalem, which was a very memorable and illustrious instance of the power both of God's justice and of his mercy, and spoke abundance of terror to his enemies and encouragement to his faithful servants,
He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
As Bashan was famed for its pastures, Carmel for its corn fields and vineyards, so Lebanon for its forests (Isa 33:9). There is nothing in the world so blooming that God cannot change it when He is wroth.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
He rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry - Delivering His people, as He did from Pharaoh Psa 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” Isa 57:20, as He did Jordan. His coming shall be far more terrible than when all the hearts of the inhabitants of the land did melt. “Bashan languisheth and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languisheth” Jos 2:11. Bashan was richest in pastures; Carmel, according to its name, in gardens and vineyards; Lebanon, in vines also and fragrant flowers Hos 14:7; Son 4:11, but chiefly in the cedar and cypress; it had its name from the whiteness of the snow, which rests on its summit. These mountains then together are emblems of richness, lasting beauty, fruitfulness, loftiness; yet all, even that which by nature is not, in the variety of seasons, wont to fade, dries up and withers before the rebuke of God. But if these thing are “done in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” All freshness, beauty, comeliness, show of outward nature, shall fade as grass; all ornament of men’s outward graces or gifts, all mere show of goodness, shall fall off like a leaf and perish. If the glory of nature perishes before God, how much more the pride of man! Bashan also was the dwelling-place of the race of giants, and near Libanus was Damascus; yet their inhabitants became as dead men and their power shrank to nothing at the word of God.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| גּוֹעֵ֤ר | goer | [he is] rebuking | H1605 → | |
| בַּיָּם֙ | baiyam | <in> the sea | H3220 → | 396 times |
| וַֽיַּבְּשֵׁ֔הוּ | vaiyabeshehu | and he made dry it | H3001 → | |
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַנְּהָר֖וֹת | haneharot | the rivers | H5104 → | |
| הֶֽחֱרִ֑יב | hecheriv | he dries up | H2717 → | |
| אֻמְלַ֤ל | ʾumlal | it withers | H535 → | |
| בָּשָׁן֙ | bashan | Bashan | H1316 → | |
| וְכַרְמֶ֔ל | vekharmel | and Carmel | H3760 → | |
| וּפֶ֥רַח | uferach | and [the] blossom of | H6525 → | |
| לְבָנ֖וֹן | levanon | Lebanon | H3844 → | |
| אֻמְלָֽל׃ | ʾumlal | it withers | H535 → |
גּוֹעֵ֤ר[he is] rebuking
goerH1605 →
בַּיָּם֙<in> the sea
baiyamH3220 →396 times
וַֽיַּבְּשֵׁ֔הוּand he made dry it
vaiyabeshehuH3001 →
וְכָל־and all
vekholH3605 →5413 times
הַנְּהָר֖וֹתthe rivers
haneharotH5104 →
הֶֽחֱרִ֑יבhe dries up
hecherivH2717 →
אֻמְלַ֤לit withers
ʾumlalH535 →
בָּשָׁן֙Bashan
bashanH1316 →
וְכַרְמֶ֔לand Carmel
vekharmelH3760 →
וּפֶ֥רַחand [the] blossom of
uferachH6525 →
לְבָנ֖וֹןLebanon
levanonH3844 →
אֻמְלָֽל׃it withers
ʾumlalH535 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 106:9He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; He led them through the depths as through a desert.
it leads to
- Psalms 18:15
The channels of the sea appeared, and the foundations of the world were exposed, at Your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 51:10
Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea for the redeemed to cross over?
- Isaiah 63:11–14
Then His people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is He who brought them through the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is the One who set His…
- Psalms 78:13
He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall.
- Psalms 77:19–20
Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, but Your footprints were not to be found.
- Psalms 18:15
Through
Psalms 104:7At Your rebuke the waters fled; at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away—
it leads to
- Mark 4:39
Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the sea. “Silence!” He commanded. “Be still!” And the wind died down, and it was perfectly calm.
- Genesis 8:1
But God remembered Noah and all the animals and livestock that were with him in the ark. And God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters began to subside.
- Psalms 106:9
He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; He led them through the depths as through a desert.
- Mark 4:39
Where this verse is studied
About Nahum
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Nahum; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 2 -- On Faith and Tertullian, AGAINST MARCION 4.20.