Micah 1:4

4 The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.

Micah 1:4 in Other Translations

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.

4 And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.

4 The mountains melt beneath his feet and flow into the valleys like wax in a fire, like water pouring down a hill.

4 Mountains sink under his feet, valleys split apart; The rock mountains crumble into gravel, the river valleys leak like sieves.

4 The mountains will melt beneath Him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax near a fire, like water cascading down a mountainside.

Micah 1:4 Meaning and Commentary

Micah 1:4

And the mountains shall be molten under him
As Sinai was when he descended on it, and as all nations will be at the general conflagration; but here the words are to be taken, not literally, but figuratively, for the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and for the kings, and princes, and great men in them, that lifted up their heads as high, and thought themselves as secure, as mountains; yet when the judgments of God should fall upon them, their hearts would melt through fear under him; as well as all their glory and greatness depart from them, and they be no more what they were before, but levelled with the meanest subject: and the valleys shall be cleft:
have chasms made in them by the melting of the mountains, or by the flow of water from the hills: these may design the lower sort of people, who shall have their share in this calamity; the inhabitants of the valleys and country villages; who, though mean and low, shall be lower still, and lose that little substance, that liberty and those privileges, they had; as valleys may be cleft, and open, and sink into the lower parts of the earth; so it is signified that these people should be in a more depressed state and condition: as wax before the fire;
melts, and cannot stand the force of it; so the mountains should melt at the presence of the Lord; and kingdoms and states, and the greatest and mightiest of men in them, would not be able to stand before the fierceness of his wrath; see ( Psalms 68:2 ) ; [and] as the waters [that are] poured down a steep place;
that run with great swiftness, force, and rapidity, and there is no stopping them; so should the judgments of God come down upon the lower sort of people, the inhabitants of the valleys; neither high nor low would escape the indignation of the Lord, or be able to stand against it, or stand up under it.

Micah 1:4 In-Context

2 Hear, you peoples, all of you, listen, earth and all who live in it, that the Sovereign LORD may bear witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

3 Look! The LORD is coming from his dwelling place; he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.

4 The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.

5 All this is because of Jacob’s transgression, because of the sins of the people of Israel. What is Jacob’s transgression? Is it not Samaria? What is Judah’s high place? Is it not Jerusalem?

6 “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations.

Cross References

• 1. S Psalms 46:2,6
• 2. S Job 9:5
• 3. S Numbers 16:31; Nahum 1:5