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.
Parallel translations
- WEB The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like 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 at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
- Ps 97:5The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
- Amos 9:5And 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 wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
- Judg 5:4LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.
- Hab 3:10The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.
- Hab 3:6He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.
- Isa 64:1–3Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
- Ps 68:2As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
- Zech 14:4And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
- Rev 20:11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and 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 the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall 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.