Yesaya 5:26-30

5:26 He lifts a signal flag for a distant nation, ¹ 

he whistles for it to come from the far regions of the earth.

Look, they ²  come quickly and swiftly.

5:27 None tire or stumble,

they don’t stop to nap or sleep.

They don’t loosen their belts,

or unstrap their sandals to rest. ³ 

5:28 Their arrows are sharpened,

and all their bows are prepared. ⁴ 

The hooves of their horses are hard as flint, ⁵ 

and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm. ⁶ 

5:29 Their roar is like a lion’s;

they roar like young lions.

They growl and seize their prey;

they drag it away and no one can come to the rescue.

5:30 At that time ⁷  they will growl over their prey, ⁸ 

it will sound like sea waves crashing against rocks. ⁹ 

One will look out over the land and see the darkness of disaster,

clouds will turn the light into darkness. ¹⁰ 

Yesaya 28:2

28:2 Look, the sovereign master ¹¹  sends a strong, powerful one. ¹² 

With the force of a hailstorm or a destructive windstorm, ¹³ 

with the might of a driving, torrential rainstorm, ¹⁴ 

he will knock that crown ¹⁵  to the ground with his hand. ¹⁶ 

Yesaya 30:30

30:30 The Lord will give a mighty shout ¹⁷ 

and intervene in power, ¹⁸ 

with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire, ¹⁹ 

with a driving rainstorm and hailstones.

Yesaya 33:11-14

33:11 You conceive straw, ²⁰ 

you give birth to chaff;

your breath is a fire that destroys you. ²¹ 

33:12 The nations will be burned to ashes; ²² 

like thorn bushes that have been cut down, they will be set on fire.

33:13 You who are far away, listen to what I have done!

You who are close by, recognize my strength!”

33:14 Sinners are afraid in Zion;

panic ²³  grips the godless. ²⁴ 

They say, ²⁵  ‘Who among us can coexist with destructive fire?

Who among us can coexist with unquenchable ²⁶  fire?’

Yesaya 33:1

The Lord Will Restore Zion

33:1 The destroyer is as good as dead, ²⁷ 

you who have not been destroyed!

The deceitful one is as good as dead, ²⁸ 

the one whom others have not deceived!

When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;

when you finish ²⁹  deceiving, others will deceive you!

1 Samuel 2:10

2:10 The Lord shatters ³⁰  his adversaries; ³¹ 

he thunders against them from ³²  the heavens.

The Lord executes judgment to the ends of the earth.

He will strengthen ³³  his king

and exalt the power ³⁴  of his anointed one.” ³⁵ 

1 Samuel 12:17-18

12:17 Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the Lord so that he makes it thunder and rain. Realize and see what a great sin you have committed before the Lord by asking for a king for yourselves.”

12:18 So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord made it thunder and rain that day. All the people were very afraid of both the Lord and Samuel.

1 Samuel 12:2

12:2 Now look! This king walks before you. As for me, I am old and gray, though my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from the time of my youth till the present day.

1 Samuel 22:14

22:14 Ahimelech replied to the king, “Who among all your servants is faithful like David? He is the king’s son-in-law, the leader of your bodyguard, and honored in your house!

Matius 24:7

24:7 For nation will rise up in arms ³⁶  against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines ³⁷  and earthquakes ³⁸  in various places.

Markus 13:8

13:8 For nation will rise up in arms ³⁹  against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines. ⁴⁰  These are but the beginning of birth pains.

Lukas 21:11

21:11 There will be great earthquakes, and famines ⁴¹  and plagues in various places, and there will be terrifying sights ⁴²  and great signs ⁴³  from heaven.

Wahyu 11:13

11:13 Just then ⁴⁴  a major earthquake took place and a tenth of the city collapsed; seven thousand people ⁴⁵  were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Wahyu 11:19

11:19 Then ⁴⁶  the temple of God in heaven was opened and the ark of his covenant was visible within his temple. And there were flashes of lightning, roaring, ⁴⁷  crashes of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm. ⁴⁸ 

Wahyu 16:18

16:18 Then ⁴⁹  there were flashes of lightning, roaring, ⁵⁰  and crashes of thunder, and there was a tremendous earthquake – an earthquake unequaled since humanity ⁵¹  has been on the earth, so tremendous was that earthquake.

[5:26]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text has literally, “for nations from a distance.” The following verses use singular forms to describe this nation, so the final mem (ם) on לְגּוֹיִם (lÿgoyim) may be enclitic or dittographic. In the latter case one could read לְגוֹי מֵרָחוֹק (lÿgoy merakhoq, “for a nation from a distance”; see Deut 28:49; Joel 3:8). Another possibility is to emend the text from לַגּוֹיִם מֵרָחוֹק (laggoyim merakhoq) to לְגוֹי מִמֶּרְחָק (lÿgoy mimmerkhaq, “for a nation from a distant place”) a phrase which occurs in Jer 5:15. In this case an error of misdivision has occurred in MT, the mem of the prefixed preposition being accidentally taken as a plural ending on the preceding word.

[5:26]  ² tn Heb “he.” Singular forms are used throughout vv. 26-30 to describe this nation, but for stylistic reasons the translation uses the plural for these collective singulars.

[5:27]  ³ tn Heb “and the belt on his waist is not opened, and the thong of his sandals is not torn in two.”

[5:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “bent” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “are strung.”

[5:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “regarded like flint.”

[5:28]  ⁶ sn They are like a windstorm in their swift movement and in the way they kick up dust.

[5:30]  ⁷ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[5:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “over it”; the referent (the prey) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “like the growling of the sea.”

[5:30]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and one will gaze toward the land, and look, darkness of distress, and light will grow dark by its [the land’s?] clouds.”

[5:30]  sn The motif of light turning to darkness is ironic when compared to v. 20. There the sinners turn light (= moral/ethical good) to darkness (= moral/ethical evil). Now ironically the Lord will turn light (= the sinners’ sphere of existence and life) into darkness (= the judgment and death).

[28:2]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in vv. 16, 22 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[28:2]  ¹² tn Heb “Look, a strong and powerful [one] belongs to the Lord.”

[28:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “like a rainstorm of hail, a wind of destruction.”

[28:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “like a rainstorm of mighty, overflowing waters.”

[28:2]  ¹⁵ tn The words “that crown” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The object of the verb is unexpressed in the Hebrew text.

[28:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “by [his] power.”

[30:30]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the Lord will cause the splendor of his voice to be heard.”

[30:30]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and reveal the lowering of his arm.”

[30:30]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and a flame of consuming fire.”

[33:11]  ²⁰ tn The second person verb and pronominal forms in this verse are plural. The hostile nations are the addressed, as the next verse makes clear.

[33:11]  ²¹ sn The hostile nations’ plans to destroy God’s people will come to nothing; their hostility will end up being self-destructive.

[33:12]  ²² tn Heb “will be a burning to lime.” See Amos 2:1.

[33:14]  ²³ tn Or “trembling” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “shake with fear.”

[33:14]  ²⁴ tn Or “the defiled”; TEV “The sinful people of Zion”; NLT “The sinners in Jerusalem.”

[33:14]  ²⁵ tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[33:14]  ²⁶ tn Or “perpetual”; or “everlasting” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[33:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Woe [to] the destroyer.”

[33:1]  sn In this context “the destroyer” appears to refer collectively to the hostile nations (vv. 3-4). Assyria would probably have been primary in the minds of the prophet and his audience.

[33:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and the deceitful one”; NAB, NIV “O traitor”; NRSV “you treacherous one.” In the parallel structure הוֹי (hoy, “woe [to]”) does double duty.

[33:1]  ²⁹ tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to derive from an otherwise unattested verb נָלָה (nalah). The translation follows the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a in reading ככלתך, a Piel infinitival form from the verbal root כָּלָה (kalah), meaning “finish.”

[2:10]  ³⁰ tn The imperfect verbal forms in this line and in the next two lines are understood as indicating what is typically true. Another option is to translate them with the future tense. See v. 10b.

[2:10]  ³¹ tc The present translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew manuscripts, the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate in reading the plural (“his adversaries,” similarly many other English versions) rather than the singular (“his adversary”) of the Kethib.

[2:10]  ³² tn The Hebrew preposition here has the sense of “from within.”

[2:10]  ³³ tn The imperfect verbal forms in this and the next line are understood as indicating what is anticipated and translated with the future tense, because at the time of Hannah’s prayer Israel did not yet have a king.

[2:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the horn,” here a metaphor for power or strength. Cf. NCV “make his appointed king strong”; NLT “increases the might of his anointed one.”

[2:10]  ³⁵ tc The LXX greatly expands v. 10 with an addition that seems to be taken from Jer 9:23-24.

[2:10]  sn The anointed one is the anticipated king of Israel, as the preceding line makes clear.

[24:7]  ³⁶ tn For the translation “rise up in arms” see L&N 55.2.

[24:7]  ³⁷ sn See Isa 5:13-14; 13:6-16; Hag 2:6-7; Zech 14:4.

[24:7]  ³⁸ tc Most witnesses (C Θ 0102 Ë^1,13 Ï) have “and plagues” (καὶ λοιμοί, kai loimoi) between “famines” (λιμοί, limoi) and “earthquakes” (σεισμοί, seismoi), while others have “plagues and famines and earthquakes” (L W 33 pc lat). The similarities between λιμοί and λοιμοί could explain how καὶ λοιμοί might have accidentally dropped out, but since the Lukan parallel has both terms (and W lat have the order λοιμοὶ καὶ λιμοί there too, as they do in Matthew), it seems more likely that scribes added the phrase here. The shorter reading does not enjoy overwhelming support ([א] B D 892 pc, as well as versional witnesses), but it is nevertheless significant; coupled with the internal evidence it should be given preference.

[13:8]  ³⁹ tn For the translation “rise up in arms” see L&N 55.2.

[13:8]  ⁴⁰ sn See Isa 5:13-14; 13:6-16; Hag 2:6-7; Zech 14:4.

[21:11]  ⁴¹ sn See Isa 5:13-14; 13:6-16; Hag 2:6-7; Zech 14:4.

[21:11]  ⁴² tn This term, φόβητρον (fobhtron), occurs only here in the NT. It could refer to an object, event, or condition that causes fear, but in the context it is linked with great signs from heaven, so the translation “sights” was preferred.

[21:11]  ⁴³ sn See Jer 4:13-22; 14:12; 21:6-7.

[11:13]  ⁴⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[11:13]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “seven thousand names of men.”

[11:19]  ⁴⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence on events within the vision.

[11:19]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “sounds,” “voices.” It is not entirely clear what this refers to. BDAG 1071 s.v. φωνή 1 states, “In Rv we have ἀστραπαὶ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ βρονταί (cp. Ex 19:16) 4:5; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18 (are certain other sounds in nature thought of here in addition to thunder, as e.g. the roar of the storm?…).”

[11:19]  ⁴⁸ tn Although BDAG 1075 s.v. χάλαζα gives the meaning “hail” here, it is not clear whether the adjective μεγάλη (megalh) refers to the intensity of the storm or the size of the individual hailstones, or both.

[16:18]  ⁴⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[16:18]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “sounds,” “voices.” It is not entirely clear what this refers to. BDAG 1071 s.v. φωνή 1 states, “In Rv we have ἀστραπαὶ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ βρονταί (cp. Ex 19:16) 4:5; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18 (are certain other sounds in nature thought of here in addition to thunder, as e.g. the roar of the storm?…).”

[16:18]  ⁵¹ tn The singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used generically here to refer to the human race.