Hakim-hakim 5:31

5:31 May all your enemies perish like this, O Lord!

But may those who love you shine

like the rising sun at its brightest!” ¹ 

And the land had rest for forty years.

Mazmur 18:13

18:13 The Lord thundered ²  in ³  the sky;

the sovereign One ⁴  shouted. ⁵ 

Habakuk 3:4

3:4 He is as bright as lightning; ⁶ 

a two-pronged lightning bolt flashes from his hand. ⁷ 

This is the outward display of his power. ⁸ 

[5:31]  ¹ tn Heb “But may those who love him be like the going forth of the sun in its strength.”

[18:13]  ² sn Thunder is a common motif in OT theophanies and in ancient Near Eastern portrayals of the storm god and warring kings. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 179-83.

[18:13]  ³ tn 2 Sam 22:14 has “from.”

[18:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “the Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Ps 47:2.

[18:13]  ⁵ tc The text of Ps 18:13 adds at this point, “hail and coals of fire.” These words are probably accidentally added from v. 12b; they do not appear in 2 Sam 22:14.

[18:13]  tn Heb “offered his voice.” In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. Note the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive in the preceding line.

[3:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “[His] radiance is like light.” Some see a reference to sunlight, but the Hebrew word אוֹר (’or) here refers to lightning, as the context indicates (see vv. 4b, 9, 11). The word also refers to lightning in Job 36:32 and 37:3, 11, 15.

[3:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “two horns from his hand to him.” Sharp, pointed lightning bolts have a “horn-like” appearance. The weapon of “double lightning” appears often in Mesopotamian representations of gods. See Elizabeth Van Buren, Symbols of the Gods in Mesopotamian Art (AnOr), 70-73.

[3:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “and there [is] the covering of his strength”; or “and there is his strong covering.” The meaning of this line is unclear. The point may be that the lightning bolts are merely a covering, or outward display, of God’s raw power. In Job 36:32 one reads that God “covers his hands with light [or, “lightning”].”