4 He 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.
The earth is sorrowing and wasting away; Lebanon is put to shame and has become waste; Sharon is like the Arabah; and in Bashan and Carmel the leaves are falling.
By his word the Red Sea was made dry: and he took them through the deep waters as through the waste land.
And when the feet of the priests who take up the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, come to rest in the waters of Jordan, the waters of Jordan will be cut off, all the waters flowing down from higher up, and will come together in a mass. So when the people went out from their tents to go over Jordan, the priests who took up the ark of the agreement were in front of the people; And when those who took up the ark came to Jordan, and the feet of the priests who took up the ark were touching the edge of the water (for the waters of Jordan are overflowing all through the time of the grain-cutting),
And said, So far you may come, and no farther; and here the pride of your waves will be stopped?
At the voice of your word they went in flight; at the sound of your thunder they went away in fear;
The sea saw it, and went in flight; Jordan was turned back.
And the waters of the sea will be cut off, and the river will become dry and waste: And the rivers will have an evil smell; the stream of Egypt will become small and dry: all the water-plants will come to nothing. The grass-lands by the Nile, and everything planted by the Nile, will become dry, or taken away by the wind, and will come to an end. The fishermen will be sad, and all those who put fishing-lines into the Nile will be full of grief, and those whose nets are stretched out on the waters will have sorrow in their hearts. And all the workers in linen thread, and those who make cotton cloth, will be put to shame. And the makers of twisted thread will be crushed, and those who ... will be sad in heart.
Who says to the deep, Be dry, and I will make your rivers dry:
Why, then, when I came, was there no man? and no one to give answer to my voice? has my hand become feeble, so that it is unable to take up your cause? or have I no power to make you free? See, at my word the sea becomes dry, I make the rivers a waste land: their fish are dead for need of water, and make an evil smell. By me the heavens are clothed with black, and I make haircloth their robe.
Did you not make the sea dry, the waters of the great deep? did you not make the deep waters of the sea a way for the Lord's people to go through?
And I will make the Nile streams dry, and will give the land into the hands of evil men, causing the land and everything in it to be wasted by the hands of men from a strange country: I the Lord have said it.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Nahum 1
Commentary on Nahum 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Prophecy of Nahum
Chapter 1
In this chapter we have,
Nah 1:1
This title directs us to consider,
Nah 1:2-8
Nineveh knows not God, that God that contends with her, and therefore is here told what a God he is; and it is good for us all to mix faith with that which is here said concerning him, which speaks a great deal of terror to the wicked and comfort to good people; for this glorious description of the Sovereign of the world, like the pillar of cloud and fire, has a bright side towards Israel and a dark side towards the Egyptians. Let each take his portion from it; let sinners read it and tremble; let saints read it and triumph. The wrath of God is here revealed from heaven against his enemies, his favour and mercy are here assured to his faithful loyal subjects, and his almighty power in both, making his wrath very terrible and his favour very desirable.
Nah 1:9-15
These verses seem to point at the destruction of the army of the Assyrians under Sennacherib, which may well be reckoned a part of the burden of Nineveh, the head city of the Assyrian empire, and a pledge of the destruction of Nineveh itself about 100 years after; and this was an event which Isaiah, with whom probably this prophet was contemporary, spoke much of. Now observe here,