The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place.
Parallel translations
- KJV 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.
- BSB The mountains will melt beneath Him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.
- NKJV The mountains will melt under Him, And the valleys will split Like wax before the fire, Like waters poured down a steep place.
- NASB The mountains will melt under Him And the valleys will be split, Like wax before the fire, Like water poured down a steep place.
- NLT The mountains melt beneath his feet and flow into the valleys like wax in a fire, like water pouring down a hill.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
At God's approach the mountains melt and valleys split, like wax in fire or water down a slope. It dramatizes how nothing in creation can withstand His judgment.
Overview
The most stable features of the earth dissolve before the LORD, underscoring His supreme power over all He has made. The vivid similes of melting wax and rushing water convey both the certainty and the irresistibility of divine judgment. Before such a God, human pride and idolatry are utterly helpless.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Nah 1:5The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it.
- Ps 97:5The mountains melt like wax at the presence of Yahweh, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
- Amos 9:5For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt.
- Judg 5:4“Yahweh, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the sky also dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water.
- Hab 3:10The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.
- Hab 3:6He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.
- Isa 64:1–3Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence.
- Ps 68:2As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
- Zech 14:4His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
- Rev 20:11I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.
- 2 Pet 3:10–12But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
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Christ at the center
Micah names the town — 'But you, Bethlehem... from you shall come forth one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origins are from of old' — the birthplace of the eternal King.
How Micah 1:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.