Ayub 28:9

28:9 On the flinty rock man has set to work ¹  with his hand;

he has overturned mountains at their bases. ² 

Mazmur 46:2

46:2 For this reason we do not fear ³  when the earth shakes, ⁴ 

and the mountains tumble into the depths of the sea, ⁵ 

Mazmur 68:8

68:8 the earth shakes,

yes, the heavens pour down rain

before God, the God of Sinai, ⁶ 

before God, the God of Israel. ⁷ 

Mazmur 114:6

114:6 Why do you skip like rams, O mountains,

like lambs, O hills?

Yesaya 40:12

The Lord is Incomparable

40:12 Who has measured out the waters ⁸  in the hollow of his hand,

or carefully ⁹  measured the sky, ¹⁰ 

or carefully weighed ¹¹  the soil of the earth,

or weighed the mountains in a balance,

or the hills on scales? ¹² 

Habakuk 3:6

3:6 He takes his battle position ¹³  and shakes ¹⁴  the earth;

with a mere look he frightens ¹⁵  the nations.

The ancient mountains disintegrate; ¹⁶ 

the primeval hills are flattened.

He travels on the ancient roads. ¹⁷ 

Habakuk 3:10

3:10 When the mountains see you, they shake.

The torrential downpour sweeps through. ¹⁸ 

The great deep ¹⁹  shouts out;

it lifts its hands high. ²⁰ 

Zakharia 4:7

Oracle of Response

4:7 “What are you, you great mountain? ²¹  Because of Zerubbabel you will become a level plain! And he will bring forth the temple ²²  capstone with shoutings of ‘Grace! Grace!’ ²³  because of this.”

Matius 21:21

21:21 Jesus ²⁴  answered them, “I tell you the truth, ²⁵  if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.

Matius 21:1

The Triumphal Entry

21:1 Now ²⁶  when they approached Jerusalem ²⁷  and came to Bethphage, ²⁸  at the Mount of Olives, ²⁹  Jesus sent two disciples,

Kolose 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ³⁰  brothers and sisters ³¹  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ³²  from God our Father! ³³ 

Wahyu 6:14

6:14 The sky ³⁴  was split apart ³⁵  like a scroll being rolled up, ³⁶  and every mountain and island was moved from its place.

Wahyu 11:13

11:13 Just then ³⁷  a major earthquake took place and a tenth of the city collapsed; seven thousand people ³⁸  were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

[28:9]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb is simply “to stretch out; to send” (שָׁלח, shalakh). With יָדוֹ (yado, “his hand”) the idea is that of laying one’s hand on the rock, i.e., getting to work on the hardest of rocks.

[28:9]  ² tn The Hebrew מִשֹּׁרֶשׁ (mishoresh) means “from/at [their] root [or base].” In mining, people have gone below ground, under the mountains, and overturned rock and dirt. It is also interesting that here in a small way humans do what God does – overturn mountains (cf. 9:5).

[46:2]  ³ tn The imperfect is taken in a generalizing sense (cf. NEB) because the situation described in vv. 2-3 is understood as symbolizing typical world conditions. In this case the imperfect draws attention to the typical nature of the response. The covenant community characteristically responds with confidence, not fear. Another option is to take the situation described as purely hypothetical. In this case one might translate, “We will not fear, even though the earth should shake” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[46:2]  ⁴ tn The Hiphil infinitival form is normally taken to mean “when [the earth] is altered,” being derived from מוּר (mur, “to change”). In this case the Hiphil would be intransitive, as in Ps 15:4. HALOT 560 s.v. II מור emends the form to a Niphal and derives it from a homonymic root מוּר attested in Arabic with the meaning “shake.”

[46:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “heart of the seas.” The plural may be used for emphasis, pointing to the deepest sea. Note that the next verse uses a singular pronoun (“its waters,” “its swelling”) in referring back to the plural noun.

[68:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “this one of Sinai.” The phrase is a divine title, perhaps indicating that the Lord rules from Sinai.

[68:8]  ⁷ sn The language of vv. 7-8 is reminiscent of Judg 5:4-5, which tells how the God of Sinai came in the storm and annihilated the Canaanite forces led by Sisera. The presence of allusion does not mean, however, that this is a purely historical reference. The psalmist is describing God’s typical appearance as a warrior in terms of his prior self-revelation as ancient events are reactualized in the psalmist’s experience. (For a similar literary technique, see Hab 3.)

[40:12]  ⁸ tn The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has מי ים (“waters of the sea”), a reading followed by NAB.

[40:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “with a span.” A “span” was the distance between the ends of the thumb and the little finger of the spread hand” (BDB 285 s.v. זֶרֶת).

[40:12]  ¹⁰ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[40:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “or weighed by a third part [of a measure].”

[40:12]  ¹² sn The implied answer to the rhetorical questions of v. 12 is “no one but the Lord. The Lord, and no other, created the world. Like a merchant weighing out silver or commodities on a scale, the Lord established the various components of the physical universe in precise proportions.

[3:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “he stands.”

[3:6]  ¹⁴ tn This verb has been traditionally understood as “measure” (from מוּד, mud), but the immediately following context (vv. 6b-7) favors the meaning “shake” from מָוד (mavd; see HALOT 555 s.v.).

[3:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “makes [the nations] jump [in fear].”

[3:6]  ¹⁶ tn Or “crumbled,” broke into pieces.”

[3:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “ancient ways [or, “doings”] are his.” The meaning of this line is unclear. Traditionally it has been translated, “his ways are eternal.” However, in this context (see vv. 3, 7) it is more likely that the line speaks of the Lord taking the same route as in the days of Moses and Deborah (see Deut 33:2; Judg 5:4). See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 154.

[3:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a heavy rain of waters passes by.” Perhaps the flash floods produced by the downpour are in view here.

[3:10]  ¹⁹ sn The great deep, which is to be equated with the sea (vv. 8, 15), is a symbol of chaos and represents the Lord’s enemies.

[3:10]  ²⁰ sn Lifting the hands here suggests panic and is accompanied by a cry for mercy (see Ps 28:2; Lam 2:19). The forces of chaos cannot withstand the Lord’s power revealed in the storm.

[4:7]  ²¹ sn In context, the great mountain here must be viewed as a metaphor for the enormous task of rebuilding the temple and establishing the messianic kingdom (cf. TEV “Obstacles as great as mountains”).

[4:7]  ²² tn The word “temple” has been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent (cf. NLT “final stone of the Temple”).

[4:7]  ²³ sn Grace is a fitting response to the idea that it was “not by strength and not by power” but by God’s gracious Spirit that the work could be done (cf. v. 6).

[21:21]  ²⁴ tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

[21:21]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[21:1]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[21:1]  ²⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[21:1]  ²⁸ sn The exact location of the village of Bethphage is not known. Most put it on the southeast side of the Mount of Olives and northwest of Bethany, about 1.5 miles (3 km) east of Jerusalem.

[21:1]  ²⁹ sn “Mountain” in English generally denotes a higher elevation than it often does in reference to places in Palestine. The Mount of Olives is really a ridge running north to south about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) long, east of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley. Its central elevation is about 30 meters (100 ft) higher than Jerusalem. It was named for the large number of olive trees which grew on it.

[1:2]  ³⁰ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ³¹ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ³² tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ³³ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.

[6:14]  ³⁴ tn Or “The heavens were.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) can mean either “heaven” or “sky.”

[6:14]  ³⁵ tn BDAG 125 s.v. ἀποχωρίζω states, “ὁ οὐρανὸς ἀπεχωρίσθη the sky was split Rv 6:14.” Although L&N 79.120 gives the meaning “the sky disappeared like a rolled-up scroll” here, a scroll that is rolled up does not “disappear,” and such a translation could be difficult for modern readers to understand.

[6:14]  ³⁶ tn On this term BDAG 317 s.v. ἑλίσσω states, “ὡς βιβλίον ἑλισσόμενον like a scroll that is rolled up…Rv 6:14.”

[11:13]  ³⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[11:13]  ³⁸ tn Grk “seven thousand names of men.”