Naum 1:5

5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills are shaken, and the earth recoils at his presence, the world, and all that dwell in it.

Naum 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 ) .

Naum 1:5 In-Context

3 The Lord is long-suffering, and his power is great, and the Lord will not hold any guiltless: his way is in destruction and in the whirlwind, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

4 He threatens the sea, and dries it up, and exhausts all the rivers: the land of Basan, and Carmel are brought low, and the flourishing of Libanus have come to nought.

5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills are shaken, and the earth recoils at his presence, the world, and all that dwell in it.

6 Who shall stand before his anger? and who shall withstand in the anger of his wrath? his wrath brings to nought kingdoms, and the rocks are burst asunder by him.

7 The Lord is good to them that wait on him in the day of affliction; and he knows them that reverence him.