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.
Study Note
Study Note
The theophany hymn that opens Nahum (1:2–8) employs cosmic disruption imagery — quaking mountains, melting hills, burning earth — to depict the divine warrior's advance against Nineveh, drawing on the Sinai theophany tradition and Near Eastern storm-deity conventions. The verse belongs to an acrostic structure (partially preserved in 1:2–8) that displays literary craft alongside its theological content, suggesting the book is a carefully composed liturgical text rather than merely an impulsive denunciation. Nahum's oracle against Assyria complements Jonah's narrative of Nineveh's repentance: together the two books bracket Assyrian history with divine patience followed by irrevocable judgment. The cosmic theophany imagery reappears in Habakkuk 3, suggesting a shared liturgical tradition among the minor prophets of divine warrior theology.
Other Translations
The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
Mountains have shaken because of Him, And the hills have been melted; And lifted up <FI>is<Fi> the earth at His presence, And the world and all dwelling in it.
The mountains are shaking because of him, and the hills flowing away; the earth is falling to bits before him, the world and all who are in it.
Cross References
And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof …
The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel.
Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.
The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence …
His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.
The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole …
Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.