Yesaya 17:12-13

17:12 The many nations massing together are as good as dead, ¹ 

those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves. ² 

The people making such an uproar are as good as dead, ³ 

those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves. ⁴ 

17:13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, ⁵ 

when he shouts at ⁶  them, they will flee to a distant land,

driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,

or like dead thistles ⁷  before a strong gale.

Yesaya 28:17

28:17 I will make justice the measuring line,

fairness the plumb line;

hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, ⁸ 

the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.

Yesaya 59:19

59:19 In the west, people respect ⁹  the Lord’s reputation; ¹⁰ 

in the east they recognize his splendor. ¹¹ 

For he comes like a rushing ¹²  stream

driven on by wind sent from the Lord. ¹³ 

Kejadian 6:17

6:17 I am about to bring ¹⁴  floodwaters ¹⁵  on the earth to destroy ¹⁶  from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them. ¹⁷  Everything that is on the earth will die,

Ulangan 28:49-52

28:49 The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth ¹⁸  as the eagle flies, ¹⁹  a nation whose language you will not understand, 28:50 a nation of stern appearance that will have no regard for the elderly or pity for the young. 28:51 They ²⁰  will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, ²¹  or lambs of your flocks ²²  until they have destroyed you. 28:52 They will besiege all of your villages ²³  until all of your high and fortified walls collapse – those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the Lord your God has given you.

Yeremia 46:7-8

46:7 “Who is this that rises like the Nile,

like its streams ²⁴  turbulent at flood stage?

46:8 Egypt rises like the Nile,

like its streams turbulent at flood stage.

Egypt says, ‘I will arise and cover the earth.

I will destroy cities and the people who inhabit them.’

Daniel 9:26

9:26 Now after the sixty-two weeks,

an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. ²⁵ 

As for the city and the sanctuary,

the people of the coming prince will destroy ²⁶  them.

But his end will come speedily ²⁷  like a flood. ²⁸ 

Until the end of the war that has been decreed

there will be destruction.

Daniel 11:10

11:10 His sons ²⁹  will wage war, mustering a large army which will advance like an overflowing river and carrying the battle all the way to the enemy’s ³⁰  fortress. ³¹ 

Daniel 11:22

11:22 Armies ³²  will be suddenly ³³  swept away in defeat ³⁴  before him; both they and a covenant leader ³⁵  will be destroyed. ³⁶ 

Amos 8:8

8:8 Because of this the earth ³⁷  will quake, ³⁸ 

and all who live in it will mourn.

The whole earth ³⁹  will rise like the River Nile, ⁴⁰ 

it will surge upward ⁴¹  and then grow calm, ⁴²  like the Nile in Egypt. ⁴³ 

Amos 9:5

9:5 The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. ⁴⁴ 

He touches the earth and it dissolves; ⁴⁵ 

all who live on it mourn.

The whole earth ⁴⁶  rises like the River Nile, ⁴⁷ 

and then grows calm ⁴⁸  like the Nile in Egypt. ⁴⁹ 

Nahum 1:8

1:8 But with an overwhelming flood ⁵⁰ 

he will make a complete end of Nineveh; ⁵¹ 

he will drive ⁵²  his enemies into darkness.

Lukas 6:48

6:48 He is like a man ⁵³  building a house, who dug down deep, ⁵⁴  and laid the foundation on bedrock. When ⁵⁵  a flood came, the river ⁵⁶  burst against that house but ⁵⁷  could not shake it, because it had been well built. ⁵⁸ 

Wahyu 12:15-16

12:15 Then ⁵⁹  the serpent spouted water like a river out of his mouth after the woman in an attempt to ⁶⁰  sweep her away by a flood, 12:16 but ⁶¹  the earth came to her rescue; ⁶²  the ground opened up ⁶³  and swallowed the river that the dragon had spewed from his mouth.

Wahyu 17:15

17:15 Then ⁶⁴  the angel ⁶⁵  said to me, “The waters you saw (where the prostitute is seated) are peoples, multitudes, ⁶⁶  nations, and languages.

[17:12]  ¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the massing of the many nations.” The word הוֹי (hoy) could be translated as a simple interjection here (“ah!”), but since the following verses announce the demise of these nations, it is preferable to take הוֹי as a funeral cry. See the note on the first phrase of 1:4.

[17:12]  ² tn Heb “like the loud noise of the seas, they make a loud noise.”

[17:12]  ³ tn Heb “the uproar of the peoples.” The term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse; the words “are as good as dead” are supplied in the translation to reflect this.

[17:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “like the uproar of mighty waters they are in an uproar.”

[17:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “the peoples are in an uproar like the uproar of mighty waters.”

[17:13]  ⁶ tn Or “rebukes.” The verb and related noun are used in theophanies of God’s battle cry which terrifies his enemies. See, for example, Pss 18:15; 76:7; 106:9; Isa 50:2; Nah 1:4, and A. Caquot, TDOT 3:49-53.

[17:13]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps “tumbleweed” (NAB, NIV, CEV); KJV “like a rolling thing.”

[28:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “[the] refuge, [the] lie.” See v. 15.

[59:19]  ⁹ tc Heb “fear.” A few medieval Hebrew mss read “see.”

[59:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and they fear from the west the name of the Lord.”

[59:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and from the rising of the sun his splendor.”

[59:19]  ¹² tn Heb “narrow”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “pent-up.”

[59:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “the wind of the Lord drives it on.” The term רוּחַ (ruakh) could be translated “breath” here (see 30:28).

[6:17]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew construction uses the independent personal pronoun, followed by a suffixed form of הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) and the a participle used with an imminent future nuance: “As for me, look, I am going to bring.”

[6:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the flood, water.”

[6:17]  ¹⁶ tn The verb שָׁחָת (shakhat, “to destroy”) is repeated yet again, only now in an infinitival form expressing the purpose of the flood.

[6:17]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew construction here is different from the previous two; here it is רוּחַ חַיִּים (ruakh khayyim) rather than נֶפֶשׁ הַיָּה (nefesh khayyah) or נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים (nishmat khayyim). It refers to everything that breathes.

[28:49]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”

[28:49]  ¹⁹ tn Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies.

[28:51]  ²⁰ tn Heb “it” (so NRSV), a collective singular referring to the invading nation (several times in this verse and v. 52).

[28:51]  ²¹ tn Heb “increase of herds.”

[28:51]  ²² tn Heb “growth of flocks.”

[28:52]  ²³ tn Heb “gates,” also in vv. 55, 57.

[46:7]  ²⁴ tn The word translated “streams” here refers to the streams of the Nile (cf. Exod 7:19; 8:1) for parallel usage.

[46:7]  sn The hubris of the Egyptian Pharaoh is referred to in vv. 7-8 as he compares his might to that of the Nile River whose annual flooding was responsible for the fertility of Egypt. A very similar picture of the armies of Assyria overcoming everything in its path is presented in Isa 8:7-8.

[9:26]  ²⁵ sn The expression have nothing is difficult. Presumably it refers to an absence of support or assistance for the anointed one at the time of his “cutting off.” The KJV rendering “but not for himself,” apparently suggesting a vicarious death, cannot be defended.

[9:26]  ²⁶ tc Some witnesses (e.g., the Syriac) understand a passive verb and the preposition עִם (’im, “with) rather than the noun עַם (’am, “people”), thus reading “the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed with the coming prince.”

[9:26]  ²⁷ tn The words “will come speedily” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

[9:26]  ²⁸ sn Flood here is a metaphor for sudden destruction.

[11:10]  ²⁹ sn The sons of Seleucus II Callinicus were Seleucus III Ceraunus (ca. 227-223 B.C.) and Antiochus III the Great (ca. 223-187 B.C.).

[11:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the enemy of the king of the north) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “and he will certainly come and overflow and cross over and return and be aroused unto a fortress.” The translation has attempted to simplify the syntax of this difficult sequence.

[11:22]  ³² tn Heb “arms.”

[11:22]  ³³ tc The present translation reads הִשָּׁטֹף (hishatof), Niphal infinitive absolute of שָׁטַף (shataf, “to overflow”), for the MT הַשֶּׁטֶף (hashetef, “flood”).

[11:22]  ³⁴ tn The words “in defeat” are added in the translation for clarification.

[11:22]  ³⁵ tn Heb “a prince of the covenant.”

[11:22]  ³⁶ tn Heb “broken” or “shattered.”

[8:8]  ³⁷ tn Or “land” (also later in this verse).

[8:8]  ³⁸ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:8]  ³⁹ tn Heb “all of it.”

[8:8]  ⁴⁰ tc The MT reads “like the light” (כָאֹר, kha’or; note this term also appears in v. 9), which is commonly understood to be an error for “like the Nile” (כִּיאוֹר, ki’or). See the parallel line and Amos 9:5. The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity. If this emendation is correct, in the Hebrew of Amos “Nile” is actually spelled three slightly different ways.

[8:8]  sn The movement of the quaking earth is here compared to the annual flooding and receding of the River Nile.

[8:8]  ⁴¹ tn Or “churn.”

[8:8]  ⁴² tn Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’), following the Qere.

[8:8]  ⁴³ tn The entire verse is phrased in a series of rhetorical questions which anticipate the answer, “Of course!” (For example, the first line reads, “Because of this will the earth not quake?”). The rhetorical questions entrap the listener in the logic of the judgment of God (cf. 3:3-6; 9:7). The rhetorical questions have been converted to affirmative statements in the translation for clarity.

[9:5]  ⁴⁴ tn The words “will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:5]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “melts.” The verb probably depicts earthquakes and landslides. See v. 5b.

[9:5]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “all of it.”

[9:5]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “the Nile.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:5]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “sinks back down.”

[9:5]  ⁴⁹ sn See Amos 8:8, which is very similar to this verse.

[1:8]  ⁵⁰ tn Some scholars connect “in an overwhelming flood” (וּבְשֶׁטֶף עֹבֵר, uvÿshetef ’over) with the preceding line: “he protects those who trust him in an overwhelming flood.” However, others connect it with the following line: “But with an overwhelming flood he will make a complete end of its [Nineveh’s] site.” D. T. Tsumura (“Janus Parallelism in Nah 1:8,” JBL 102 [1983]: 109-11) suggests that it does double duty and should be read with both lines: “he knows those who trust him in an overwhelming flood, / but with an overwhelming flood he will make a complete end of its [Nineveh’s] site.” Connecting it with the preceding line creates a tight parallelism and a balanced 5+5 metrical count. Connecting it with the following line harmonizes with Nah 2:9 [8], which describes the walls of Nineveh being destroyed by flood waters, and with historical evidence (Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, 2.27.1-3; Xenophon, Anabasis, 3.4.12) and modern archaeological evidence (A. T. Olmstead, History of Assyria, 637). This might be an example of intentional ambiguity: God will protect his people from the very calamity that he will use to destroy his enemies.

[1:8]  ⁵¹ tc Heb “her place.” Alternately, some ancient versions read “his adversaries.” The MT reads מְקוֹמָהּ (mÿqomah, “her place”). This is supported by the Dead Sea Scrolls (מקומה, “her place,” found in 4QpNah) and Symmachus (τῆς τόποῦ αὐτοῦ, th" topou autou, “her place”). The reading of the LXX (τούς ἐπεγειρουμένους, tou" epegeiroumenou", “those who rise up [against Him]”) and Aquila (ἀντισταμενω¡ν, antistamenw>n, “adversaries”) reflect מְקּוֹמיהוּ or מְקִימיהוּ or מְקִּמָיו (“his adversaries”), also reflected in the Vulgate and Targum. Some scholars suggest emending the MT in the light of the LXX to create a tight parallelism between “his adversaries” (מקומיו) and “his enemies” (וְאֹיְבָיו, vÿ’oyÿvayv) which is a parallel word pair elsewhere (Deut 28:7; 2 Sam 22:40-41, 49; Mic 7:6; Ps 59:2). Likewise, Tsumura suggests emending the MT because the text, as it stands, does not have a clear parallel word for “his enemies” (וְאֹיְבָיו) – emending the MT’s מְקוֹמָהּ (“her place”) to מקומיו (“his adversaries”) would result in a parallel word (D. T. Tsumura, “Janus Parallelism in Nah 1:8,” JBL 102 [1983]: 109-11). The BHS editors propose emending the MT in favor of the Greek tradition. The English versions reflect both textual traditions – several follow the MT with “her place” and “its site” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NKJV, NJPS), while others adopt the LXX reading and emend the Hebrew, resulting in “his adversaries” (NRSV) or “those who defy him” (NJB). The MT makes sense as it stands, but the proposed emendation is attractive and involves only the common confusion between ה and יו.

[1:8]  ⁵² tc The BHS editors propose emending the Masoretic reading יְרַדֶּף (yÿraddef, Piel imperfect of רָדַּף [raddaf], “to chase”) to יֶהְדֹּף (yekhdof, Qal imperfect of הָדַף [hadaf], “to thrust away, drive away”). Although הָדַף is used with חֹשֶׁךְ (khoshekh, “darkness”) in Job 18:18 (“he is driven from light into darkness”), the MT makes good sense as it stands, and is supported by the versions. The conjectural emendation has no support and is unnecessary.

[6:48]  ⁵³ tn Here and in v. 49 the Greek text reads ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), while the parallel account in Matt 7:24-27 uses ἀνήρ (anhr) in vv. 24 and 26.

[6:48]  ⁵⁴ tn There are actually two different Greek verbs used here: “who dug (ἔσκαψεν, eskayen) and dug deep (ἐβάθυνεν, ebaqunen).” Jesus is placing emphasis on the effort to which the man went to prepare his foundation.

[6:48]  ⁵⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[6:48]  ⁵⁶ sn The picture here is of a river overflowing its banks and causing flooding and chaos.

[6:48]  ⁵⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in the context.

[6:48]  ⁵⁸ tc Most mss, especially later ones (A C D Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï latt), read “because he built [it] on the rock” rather than “because it had been well built” (Ì^75vid א B L W Ξ 33 579 892 1241 2542 pc sa). The reading of the later mss seems to be a harmonization to Matt 7:25, rendering it most likely secondary.

[12:15]  ⁵⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[12:15]  ⁶⁰ tn Grk “so that he might make her swept away.”

[12:16]  ⁶¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present here.

[12:16]  ⁶² tn Grk “the earth helped the woman.”

[12:16]  ⁶³ tn Grk “the earth opened its mouth” (a metaphor for the ground splitting open).

[17:15]  ⁶⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[17:15]  ⁶⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:15]  ⁶⁶ tn Grk “and multitudes,” but καί (kai) has not been translated here and before the following term since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.