Mazmur 11:6

11:6 May the Lord rain down ¹  burning coals ²  and brimstone ³  on the wicked!

A whirlwind is what they deserve! ⁴ 

Ayub 20:23

20:23 “While he is ⁵  filling his belly,

God ⁶  sends his burning anger ⁷  against him,

and rains down his blows upon him. ⁸ 

Yesaya 42:25

42:25 So he poured out his fierce anger on them,

along with the devastation ⁹  of war.

Its flames encircled them, but they did not realize it; ¹⁰ 

it burned against them, but they did notice. ¹¹ 

Ratapan 4:11

כ (Kaf)

4:11 The Lord fully vented ¹²  his wrath;

he poured out his fierce anger. ¹³ 

He started a fire in Zion;

it consumed her foundations. ¹⁴ 

Zefanya 3:8

3:8 Therefore you must wait patiently ¹⁵  for me,” says the Lord,

“for the day when I attack and take plunder. ¹⁶ 

I have decided ¹⁷  to gather nations together

and assemble kingdoms,

so I can pour out my fury on them –

all my raging anger.

For ¹⁸  the whole earth will be consumed

by my fiery anger.

Roma 2:8-9

2:8 but ¹⁹  wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition ²⁰  and do not obey the truth but follow ²¹  unrighteousness. 2:9 There will be ²²  affliction and distress on everyone ²³  who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek, ²⁴ 

[11:6]  ¹ tn The verb form is a jussive, indicating that the statement is imprecatory (“May the Lord rain down”), not indicative (“The Lord rains down”; see also Job 20:23). The psalmist appeals to God to destroy the wicked, rather than simply stating his confidence that God will do so. In this way the psalmist seeks to activate divine judgment by appealing to God’s just character. For an example of the power of such a curse, see Judg 9:7-57.

[11:6]  ² tc The MT reads “traps, fire, and brimstone,” but the image of God raining traps, or snares, down from the sky is bizarre and does not fit the fire and storm imagery of this verse. The noun פַּחִים (pakhim, “traps, snares”) should be emended to פַּחֲמֵי (pakhamey, “coals of [fire]”). The rare noun פֶּחָם (pekham, “coal”) occurs in Prov 26:21 and Isa 44:12; 54:16.

[11:6]  ³ sn The image of God “raining down” brimstone on the objects of his judgment also appears in Gen 19:24 and Ezek 38:22.

[11:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “[may] a wind of rage [be] the portion of their cup.” The precise meaning of the rare noun זִלְעָפוֹת (zil’afot) is uncertain. It may mean “raging heat” (BDB 273 s.v. זַלְעָפָה) or simply “rage” (HALOT 272 s.v. זַלְעָפָה). If one understands the former sense, then one might translate “hot wind” (cf. NEB, NRSV). The present translation assumes the latter nuance, “a wind of rage” (the genitive is attributive) referring to a “whirlwind” symbolic of destructive judgment. In this mixed metaphor, judgment is also compared to an allotted portion of a beverage poured into one’s drinking cup (see Hab 2:15-16).

[20:23]  ⁵ tn D. J. A. Clines observes that to do justice to the three jussives in the verse, one would have to translate “May it be, to fill his belly to the full, that God should send…and rain” (Job [WBC], 477). The jussive form of the verb at the beginning of the verse could also simply introduce a protasis of a conditional clause (see GKC 323 §109.h, i). This would mean, “if he [God] is about to fill his [the wicked’s] belly to the full, he will send….” The NIV reads “when he has filled his belly.” These fit better, because the context is talking about the wicked in his evil pursuit being cut down.

[20:23]  ⁶ tn “God” is understood as the subject of the judgment.

[20:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “the anger of his wrath.”

[20:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “rain down upon him, on his flesh.” Dhorme changes עָלֵימוֹ (’alemo, “upon him”) to “his arrows”; he translates the line as “he rains his arrows upon his flesh.” The word בִּלְחוּמוֹ (bilkhumo,“his flesh”) has been given a wide variety of translations: “as his food,” “on his flesh,” “upon him, his anger,” or “missiles or weapons of war.”

[42:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “strength” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “fury”; NASB “fierceness”; NIV “violence.”

[42:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and it blazed against him all around, but he did not know.” The subject of the third feminine singular verb “blazed” is the divine חֵמָה (khemah, “anger”) mentioned in the previous line.

[42:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and it burned against him, but he did not set [it] upon [the] heart.”

[4:11]  ¹² tn Heb “has completed.” The verb כִּלָּה (killah), Piel perfect 3rd person masculine singular from כָּלָה (kalah, “to complete”), has a range of closely related meanings: (1) “to complete, bring to an end,” (2) “to accomplish, finish, cease,” (3) “to use up, exhaust, consume.” Used in reference to God’s wrath, it describes God unleashing his full measure of anger so that divine justice is satisfied. This is handled admirably by several English versions: “The Lord has given full vent to his wrath” (NIV), “The Lord gave full vent to his wrath” (RSV, NRSV), “The Lord vented all his fury” (NJPS), “The Lord turned loose the full force of his fury” (TEV). Others miss the mark: “The Lord has accomplished his wrath/fury” (KJV, NKJV, ASV, NASB).

[4:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “the heat of his anger.”

[4:11]  ¹⁴ tn The term יְסוֹד (yÿsod, “foundation”) refers to the ground-level and below ground-level foundation stones of a city wall (Ps 137:7; Lam 4:11; Mic 1:6).

[3:8]  ¹⁵ tn The second person verb form (“you must wait patiently”) is masculine plural, indicating that a group is being addressed. Perhaps the humble individuals addressed earlier (see 2:3) are in view. Because of Jerusalem’s sin, they must patiently wait for judgment to pass before their vindication arrives.

[3:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “when I arise for plunder.” The present translation takes עַד (’ad) as “plunder.” Some, following the LXX, repoint the term עֵד (’ed) and translate, “as a witness” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV). In this case the Lord uses a legal metaphor to picture himself as testifying against his enemies. Adele Berlin takes לְעַד (lÿ’ad) in a temporal sense (“forever”) and translates “once and for all” (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 133).

[3:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for my decision is.”

[3:8]  ¹⁸ tn Or “certainly.”

[2:8]  ¹⁹ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:8]  ²⁰ tn Grk “those who [are] from selfish ambition.”

[2:8]  ²¹ tn Grk “are persuaded by, obey.”

[2:9]  ²² tn No verb is expressed in this verse, but the verb “to be” is implied by the Greek construction. Literally “suffering and distress on everyone…”

[2:9]  ²³ tn Grk “every soul of man.”

[2:9]  ²⁴ sn Paul uses the term Greek here and in v. 10 to refer to non-Jews, i.e., Gentiles.