Nahum 1 · Verse 4

Nahum 1:4

He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.
Nahum 1:4, King James Version

Nahum 1:4 in other translations

BSBHe rebukes the sea and dries it up; He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.
WEBHe rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel languish. The flower of Lebanon languishes.
ASVHe rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.
YLTHe is pushing against a sea, and drieth it up, Yea, all the floods He hath made dry, Languishing are Bashan and Carmel, Yea, the flower of Lebanon is languishing.
DARBYHe rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.
BBEHe says sharp words to the sea and makes it dry, drying up all the rivers: Bashan is feeble, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon is without strength.
WebsterHe rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

What does Nahum 1:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
4. 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 change it when He is wroth.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 4 He 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. If then, the seas, the rivers, the mountains, the hills, the rocks, and the earth itself, fail before Jehovah, or flee from his presence, how shall Nineveh and the Assyrian empire stand before him?

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Nahum 1:1-8

About a hundred years before, at Jonah's preaching, the Ninevites repented, and were spared, yet, soon after, they became worse than ever. Nineveh knows not that God who contends with her, but is told what a God he is. It is good for all to mix faith with what is here said concerning Him, which speaks great terror to the wicked, and comfort to believers. Let each take his portion from it: let sinners read it and…

Read the full comment on Nahum 1:1-8 →

Nahum 1:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

גּוֹעֵ֤רgo.'Er[he is] rebukingH1605
בַּיָּם֙bai.Yam<in> the seaH3220
וַֽיַּבְּשֵׁ֔הוּvai.ya.be.She.huand he made dry itH3001
וְכָל\־ve.kholand allH3605
הַנְּהָר֖וֹתha.ne.ha.Rotthe riversH5104
הֶֽחֱרִ֑יבhe.che.Rivhe dries upH2717
אֻמְלַ֤ל'um.Lalit withersH535
בָּשָׁן֙ba.ShanBashanH1316
וְכַרְמֶ֔לve.khar.Meland CarmelH3760
וּפֶ֥רַחu.Fe.rachand [the] blossom ofH6525
לְבָנ֖וֹןle.va.NonLebanonH3844
אֻמְלָֽל\׃'um.Lalit withersH535

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Nahum 1:4

  • Isaiah 33:9

    The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.

  • Psalms 106:9

    He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.

  • Isaiah 50:2-3

    Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? 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? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.

  • Isaiah 51:10

    Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?

  • Joshua 3:13-15

    And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap. And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people; And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)

  • Psalms 104:7

    At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.

  • Psalms 114:5

    What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?

  • Isaiah 44:27

    That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:

  • Psalms 114:3

    The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.

  • Isaiah 19:5-10

    And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither. The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. …

  • Psalms 74:15

    Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.

  • Matthew 8:26

    And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
rebuketh.
Job 38:11; Ps 104:7; 106:9; 114:3,5; Isa 50:2,3; 51:10; Am 5:8
Mt 8:26
and drieth.
Jos 3:13-15; Ps 74:15; Isa 19:5-10; 44:27; Eze 30:12
Bashan.
Isa 33:9; Am 1:2

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Nahum 1:3

    The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

  • Nahum 1:4

    He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

  • Nahum 1:5

    The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

Read all of Nahum 1

Nahum 1:4 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
El amenaza á la mar, y la hace secar, y agosta todos los ríos: Basán fué destruído, y el Carmelo, y la flor del Líbano fué destruída.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Il tance la mer et la dessèche, et fait tarir toutes les rivières. Basan et le Carmel languissent, et la fleur du Liban languit.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Er schilt das Meer und legt es trocken, und alle Flüsse macht er versiegen; Basan und Karmel verwelken, und es verwelkt die Blüte des Libanon.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Increpans mare, et exsiccans illud, et omnia flumina ad desertum deducens. Infirmatus est Basan et Carmelus, et flos Libani elanguit.