3 The Lord is slow to get angry and great in power, and will not let the sinner go without punishment: the way of the Lord is in the wind and the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
Great is our Lord, and great his power; there is no limit to his wisdom.
The arch of your house is based on the waters; you make the clouds your carriage; you go on the wings of the wind:
And would not do them, and gave no thought to the wonders you had done among them; but made their necks stiff, and turning away from you, made a captain over themselves to take them back to their prison in Egypt: but you are a God of forgiveness, full of grace and pity, slow to wrath and great in mercy, and you did not give them up.
You have knowledge of this, dear brothers. But let every man be quick in hearing, slow in words, slow to get angry;
And the Lord went past before his eyes, saying, The Lord, the Lord, a God full of pity and grace, slow to wrath and great in mercy and faith; Having mercy on thousands, overlooking evil and wrongdoing and sin; he will not let wrongdoers go free, but will send punishment on children for the sins of their fathers, and on their children's children to the third and fourth generation.
The word about Egypt. See, the Lord is seated on a quick-moving cloud, and is coming to Egypt: and the false gods of Egypt will be troubled at his coming, and the heart of Egypt will be turned to water.
The Lord is kind and full of pity, not quickly made angry, but ever ready to have mercy.
Then he said, Go out and take your place on the mountain before the Lord. Then the Lord went by, and mountains were parted by the force of a great wind, and rocks were broken before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind there was an earth-shock, but the Lord was not in the earth-shock. And after the earth-shock a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, the sound of a soft breath. And Elijah, hearing it, went out, covering his face with his robe, and took his place in the opening of the hole. And there a voice came to him saying, What are you doing here, Elijah?
And he made prayer to the Lord and said, O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still in my country? This is why I took care to go in flight to Tarshish: for I was certain that you were a loving God, full of pity, slow to be angry and great in mercy, and ready to be turned from your purpose of evil.
And how unlimited is his power to us who have faith, as is seen in the working of the strength of his power, By which he made Christ come back from the dead, and gave him a place at his right hand in heaven,
Jesus says to him, You say so: but I say to you, From now you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.
Before him went disease, and flames went out at his feet. From his high place he sent shaking on the earth; he saw and nations were suddenly moved: and the eternal mountains were broken, the unchanging hills were bent down; his ways are eternal. The curtains of Cushan were troubled, and the tents of Midian were shaking. Was your wrath burning against the rivers? were you angry with the sea, that you went on your horses, on your war-carriages of salvation? Your bow was quite uncovered. Selah. By you the earth was cut through with rivers. The mountains saw you and were moved with fear; the clouds were streaming with water: the voice of the deep was sounding; the sun did not come up, and the moon kept still in her place. At the light of your arrows they went away, at the shining of your polished spear. You went stepping through the land in wrath, crushing the nations in your passion. You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of the one on whom your holy oil was put; wounding the head of the family of the evil-doer, uncovering the base even to the neck. Selah. You have put your spears through his head, his horsemen were sent in flight like dry stems; they had joy in driving away the poor, in making a meal of them secretly. The feet of your horses were on the sea, on the mass of great waters.
And when morning came on the third day, there were thunders and flames and a thick cloud on the mountain, and a horn sounding very loud; and all the people in the tents were shaking with fear. And Moses made the people come out of their tents and take their places before God; and they came to the foot of the mountain, And all the mountain of Sinai was smoking, for the Lord had come down on it in fire: and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a great burning; and all the mountain was shaking.
Let your hearts be broken, and not your clothing, and come back to the Lord your God: for he is full of grace and pity, slow to be angry and great in mercy, ready to be turned from his purpose of punishment.
For the Lord is coming with fire, and his war-carriages will be like the storm-wind; to give punishment in the heat of his wrath, and his passion is like flames of fire.
The Lord is full of grace and pity; not quickly angry, but great in mercy.
Dark clouds are round him; his kingdom is based on righteousness and right judging. Fire goes before him, burning up all those who are against him round about. His bright flames give light to the world; the earth saw it with fear. The mountains became like wax at the coming of the Lord, at the coming of the Lord of all the earth.
Say to God, How greatly to be feared are your works! because of your great power your haters are forced to put themselves under your feet.
Once has God said, twice has it come to my ears, that power is God's:
Then trouble and shock came on the earth; and the bases of the mountains were moved and shaking, because he was angry. There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: flames were lighted by it. The heavens were bent, so that he might come down; and it was dark under his feet. And he went in flight through the air, seated on a storm-cloud: going quickly on the wings of the wind. He made the dark his secret place; his tent round him was the dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and fire. The Lord made thunder in the heavens, and the voice of the Highest was sounding out: a rain of ice and fire. He sent out his arrows, driving them in all directions; by his flames of fire they were troubled. Then the deep beds of the waters were seen, and the bases of the world were uncovered, because of your words of wrath, O Lord, because of the breath from your mouth.
And the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said,
These words the Lord said to all of you together on the mountain, out of the heart of the fire, out of the cloud and the dark, with a great voice: and he said no more; he put them in writing on the two stones of the law and gave them to me. And after hearing the voice which came out of the dark while the mountain was burning with fire, all the heads of your tribes and your chiefs came to me, And said, The Lord has let us see his glory and his power, and his voice has come to us out of the fire: today we have seen that a man may go on living even after hearing the voice of God.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Nahum 1
Commentary on Nahum 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Prophecy of Nahum
Chapter 1
In this chapter we have,
Nah 1:1
This title directs us to consider,
Nah 1:2-8
Nineveh knows not God, that God that contends with her, and therefore is here told what a God he is; and it is good for us all to mix faith with that which is here said concerning him, which speaks a great deal of terror to the wicked and comfort to good people; for this glorious description of the Sovereign of the world, like the pillar of cloud and fire, has a bright side towards Israel and a dark side towards the Egyptians. Let each take his portion from it; let sinners read it and tremble; let saints read it and triumph. The wrath of God is here revealed from heaven against his enemies, his favour and mercy are here assured to his faithful loyal subjects, and his almighty power in both, making his wrath very terrible and his favour very desirable.
Nah 1:9-15
These verses seem to point at the destruction of the army of the Assyrians under Sennacherib, which may well be reckoned a part of the burden of Nineveh, the head city of the Assyrian empire, and a pledge of the destruction of Nineveh itself about 100 years after; and this was an event which Isaiah, with whom probably this prophet was contemporary, spoke much of. Now observe here,