Micah 1:4

And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
mountains	הֶֽהָרִים֙ he.ha.Rim	H2022	a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
molten	וְנָמַ֤סּוּ ve.na.Ma.su	H4549	to liquefy · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
valleys	וְהָעֲמָקִ֖ים ve.ha.'a.ma.Kim	H6010	a vale (i.e. broad depression) · conjunction + definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
cleft	יִתְבַּקָּ֑עוּ yit.ba.Ka.'u	H1234	to cleave · verb, hithpael imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
wax	כַּדּוֹנַג֙ ka.do.Nag	H1749	wax · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
before	מִפְּנֵ֣י mi.pe.Nei	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
fire	הָאֵ֔שׁ ha.'Esh	H784	fire (literally or figuratively) · definite article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
waters	כְּמַ֖יִם ke.Ma.yim	H4325	water · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
poured	מֻגָּרִ֥ים mu.ga.Rim	H5064	to flow · verb, hophal passive participle, masculine plural absolute
place	בְּמוֹרָֽד be.mo.Rad	H4174	a descent · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

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.
Psalms 97:5 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
Judges 5:4 LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds a…
Isaiah 64:1-3 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
Amos 9:5 And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up whol…
Habakkuk 3:6 He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hill…
Habakkuk 3:10 The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on hi…
Psalms 68:2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Micah 1:1-7

Here is, I. A general account of this prophet and his prophecy, Mic 1:1. This is prefixed for the satisfaction of all that read and hear the prophecy of this book, who will give the more credit to it when they know the author and his authority. 1. The prophecy is the word of the Lord; it is a divine revelation. Note, What is written in the Bible, and what is preached by the ministers of Christ according to what is written there, must be heard and received, not as the word of dying men, which we may be judges of, but as the word of the living God, which we must be judged by, for so it is. This word of the Lord came to the prophet, came plainly, came powerfully, came in a preventing way, and h…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Micah 1:4

Imagery from earthquakes and volcanic agency, to describe the terrors which attend Jehovah's coming in judgment (compare Jdg 5:5). Neither men of high degree, as the mountains, nor men of low degree, as the valleys, can secure themselves or their land from the judgments of God. as wax-- (Psa 97:5; compare Isa 64:1-3). The third clause, "as wax," &c.; answers to the first in the parallelism, "the mountains shall be molten"; the fourth, "as the waters," &c.; to the second, "the valleys shall be cleft." As wax melts by fire, so the mountains before God, at His approach; and as waters poured down a steep cannot stand but are diffused abroad, so the valleys shall be cleft before Jehovah.

Adam Clarke on Micah 1:3

For, behold, the Lord cometh forth - See this clause, Amo 4:13 (note). He represents Jehovah as a mighty conqueror, issuing from his pavilion, stepping from mountain to mountain, which rush down and fill the valleys before him; a consuming fire accompanying him, that melts and confounds every hill and dale, and blends all in universal confusion. God is here represented as doing that himself which other conquerors do by the multitude of their hosts; levelling the mountains, filling some of the valleys, and digging for waters in others, and pouring them from hills and dales for the use of the conquering armies, by pipes and aqueducts. And why is all this mighty movement? Mic 1:5. "For the tran…

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The Church Fathers

And he shall come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. The descent of God is, and his majesty runs down to lower things, to tread upon the earth, and to crush even the powerful. And they shall be consumed, he says, whether the mountains waste away, and the valleys beneath him, whom we understand to be the leaders and the people. And just as nearby fire does not sustain wax, and flowing water is carried headlong: so shall the pride of all the wicked, when the Lord comes, be dissolved and flow away.
— Jerome, Commentary on Micah

On another occasion when he was sitting by himself some place reading the book of the twelve prophets, he came to the prophet Micah. An angel of the Lord appeared to him and asked him about this verse from Micah: "Like water coming down from its source." He said to him, "What do you think it means?" While he was still puzzling over it, trying to understand, the angel answered, "Theodore, why do you not perceive its meaning? Is it not obvious that it is the water of the river coming down from paradise?" As soon as the angel had said this, he ceased to see him.
— Pachomius the Great, LIFE OF PACHOMIUS (BOHAIRIC) 1:155

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Wax — Made by melting the combs of bees. Mentioned (Ps. 22:14; 68:2; 97:5; Micah 1:4) in illustration.
Mountain · Melted — Melted
Volcanoes · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Wax · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Micah 1:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Micah 1:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Micah 1:4

Adam Clarke on Micah 1:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Micah 1:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Micah 1:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Micah 1:4

Adam Clarke on Micah 1:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Micah 1:4

John Calvin on Micah 1:3-4

Keil & Delitzsch on Micah 1:1-4

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Micah 1:4

Rashi on Micah 1:4