Mazmur 18:4

18:4 The waves ¹  of death engulfed me,

the currents ²  of chaos ³  overwhelmed me. ⁴ 

Mazmur 93:3-4

93:3 The waves ⁵  roar, O Lord,

the waves roar,

the waves roar and crash. ⁶ 

93:4 Above the sound of the surging water, ⁷ 

and the mighty waves of the sea,

the Lord sits enthroned in majesty. ⁸ 

Ayub 38:11

38:11 when I said, ‘To here you may come ⁹ 

and no farther, ¹⁰ 

here your proud waves will be confined’? ¹¹ 

Yesaya 5:3

5:3 So now, residents of Jerusalem, ¹² 

people ¹³  of Judah,

you decide between me and my vineyard!

Yesaya 17:12-13

17:12 The many nations massing together are as good as dead, ¹⁴ 

those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves. ¹⁵ 

The people making such an uproar are as good as dead, ¹⁶ 

those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves. ¹⁷ 

17:13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, ¹⁸ 

when he shouts at ¹⁹  them, they will flee to a distant land,

driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,

or like dead thistles ²⁰  before a strong gale.

Yeremia 5:22

5:22 “You should fear me!” says the Lord.

“You should tremble in awe before me! ²¹ 

I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea,

a permanent barrier that it can never cross.

Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail.

They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary.” ²² 

Matius 7:25

7:25 The rain fell, the flood ²³  came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because it had been founded on rock.

Wahyu 17:15

17:15 Then ²⁴  the angel ²⁵  said to me, “The waters you saw (where the prostitute is seated) are peoples, multitudes, ²⁶  nations, and languages.

[18:4]  ¹ tc Ps 18:4 reads “ropes,” while 2 Sam 22:5 reads “waves.” The reading of the psalm has been influenced by the next verse (note “ropes of Sheol”) and perhaps also by Ps 116:3 (where “ropes of death” appears, as here, with the verb אָפַף, ’afaf). However, the parallelism of v. 4 (note “currents” in the next line) favors the reading “waves.” While the verb אָפַף is used with “ropes” as subject in Ps 116:3, it can also be used with engulfing “waters” as subject (see Jonah 2:5). Death is compared to surging waters in v. 4 and to a hunter in v. 5.

[18:4]  ² tn The Hebrew noun נַחַל (nakhal) usually refers to a river or stream, but in this context the plural form likely refers to the currents of the sea (see vv. 15-16).

[18:4]  ³ tn The noun בְלִיַּעַל (vÿliyya’al) is used here as an epithet for death. Elsewhere it is a common noun meaning “wickedness, uselessness.” It is often associated with rebellion against authority and other crimes that result in societal disorder and anarchy. The phrase “man/son of wickedness” refers to one who opposes God and the order he has established. The term becomes an appropriate title for death, which, through human forces, launches an attack against God’s chosen servant.

[18:4]  ⁴ tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. (Note the perfect verbal form in the parallel/preceding line.) The verb בָּעַת (ba’at) sometimes by metonymy carries the nuance “frighten,” but the parallelism (see “engulfed”) favors the meaning “overwhelm” here.

[93:3]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew noun translated “waves” often refers to rivers or streams, but here it appears to refer to the surging waves of the sea (see v. 4, Ps 24:2).

[93:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “the waves lift up, O Lord, the waves lift up their voice, the waves lift up their crashing.”

[93:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “mighty waters.”

[93:4]  sn The surging waters here symbolizes the hostile enemies of God who seek to destroy the order he has established in the world (see Pss 18:17; 29:3; 32:6; 77:20; 144:7; Isa 17:13; Jer 51:55; Ezek 26:19; Hab 3:15). But the Lord is depicted as elevated above and sovereign over these raging waters.

[93:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “mighty on high [is] the Lord.”

[38:11]  ⁹ tn The imperfect verb receives the permission nuance here.

[38:11]  ¹⁰ tn The text has תֹסִיף (tosif, “and you may not add”), which is often used idiomatically (as in verbal hendiadys constructions).

[38:11]  ¹¹ tn The MT literally says, “here he will put on the pride of your waves.” The verb has no expressed subject and so is made a passive voice. But there has to be some object for the verb “put,” such as “limit” or “boundary”; the translations “confined; halted; stopped” all serve to paraphrase such an idea. The LXX has “broken” at this point, suggesting the verse might have been confused – but “breaking the pride” of the waves would mean controlling them. Some commentators have followed this, exchanging the verb in v. 11 with this one.

[5:3]  ¹² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “men,” but in a generic sense.

[17:12]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “like the loud noise of the seas, they make a loud noise.”

[17:12]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “like the uproar of mighty waters they are in an uproar.”

[17:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the peoples are in an uproar like the uproar of mighty waters.”

[17:13]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Or perhaps “tumbleweed” (NAB, NIV, CEV); KJV “like a rolling thing.”

[5:22]  ²¹ tn Heb “Should you not fear me? Should you not tremble in awe before me?” The rhetorical questions expect the answer explicit in the translation.

[5:22]  ²² tn Heb “it.” The referent is made explicit to avoid any possible confusion.

[7:25]  ²³ tn Grk “the rivers.”

[17:15]  ²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[17:15]  ²⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:15]  ²⁶ 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.