Nahum 1:5

5 Mountains quake in their roots, hills dissolve into mud flats. Earth shakes in fear of God. The whole world's in a panic.

Nahum 1:5 Meaning and Commentary

Nahum 1:5

The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt
As Sinai of old did, when the Lord descended on it, ( Exodus 19:18 ) ( Judges 5:5 ) . Mountains figuratively signify kings and princes; and hills large countries, as Jarchi and Abarbinel observe, and the inhabitants of them; particularly the kingdoms and nations belonging to the Assyrian empire, which would tremble and quake, and their hearts melt with fear, when they should hear of the destruction of Nineveh their chief city; and of the devastation made by the enemy there and in other parts, under the direction of the Lord of hosts; his power and providence succeeding him: and the earth is burnt at his presence;
either when he withholds rain from it, and so it be comes parched and burnt up with the heat of the sun; or when he rains fire and brimstone on it, as he did on Sodom and Gomorrah; or consumes any part of it with thunder and lightning, as he sometimes does; nay, if he but touch the mountains, they smoke; see ( Psalms 104:32 ) ; yea, the world, and all that dwell therein;
as in the last day, at the general conflagration, when the world, and all the wicked inhabitants of it, will be burnt up; see ( 2 Peter 3:10 ) .

Nahum 1:5 In-Context

3 But God doesn't lose his temper. He's powerful, but it's a patient power. Still, no one gets by with anything. Sooner or later, everyone pays. Tornadoes and hurricanes are the wake of his passage, Storm clouds are the dust he shakes off his feet.

4 He yells at the sea: It dries up. All the rivers run dry. The Bashan and Carmel mountains shrivel, the Lebanon orchards shrivel.

5 Mountains quake in their roots, hills dissolve into mud flats. Earth shakes in fear of God. The whole world's in a panic.

6 Who can face such towering anger? Who can stand up to this fierce rage? His anger spills out like a river of lava, his fury shatters boulders.

7 God is good, a hiding place in tough times. He recognizes and welcomes anyone looking for help,