Ezekiel 15:6-7

15:6 “Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Like the wood of the vine is among the trees of the forest which I have provided as fuel for the fire – so I will provide the residents of Jerusalem ¹  as fuel. ²  15:7 I will set ³  my face against them – although they have escaped from the fire, ⁴  the fire will still consume them! Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.

Ezekiel 20:47-48

20:47 and say to the scrub land of the Negev, ‘Hear the word of the Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, ⁵  I am about to start a fire in you, ⁶  and it will devour every green tree and every dry tree in you. The flaming fire will not be extinguished, and the whole surface of the ground from the Negev to the north will be scorched by it. 20:48 And everyone ⁷  will see that I, the Lord, have burned it; it will not be extinguished.’”

Ezekiel 22:20-22

22:20 As silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered in a furnace so that the fire can melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and in my rage. I will deposit you there ⁸  and melt you. 22:21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in it. 22:22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted in it, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my anger on you.’”

Deuteronomy 4:24

4:24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire; he is a jealous God. ⁹ 

Deuteronomy 29:20

29:20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger ¹⁰  will rage ¹¹  against that man; all the curses ¹²  written in this scroll will fall upon him ¹³  and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. ¹⁴ 

Deuteronomy 32:22

32:22 For a fire has been kindled by my anger,

and it burns to lowest Sheol; ¹⁵ 

it consumes the earth and its produce,

and ignites the foundations of the mountains.

Deuteronomy 32:2

32:2 My teaching will drop like the rain,

my sayings will drip like the dew, ¹⁶ 

as rain drops upon the grass,

and showers upon new growth.

Deuteronomy 25:9

25:9 then his sister-in-law must approach him in view of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. ¹⁷  She will then respond, “Thus may it be done to any man who does not maintain his brother’s family line!” ¹⁸ 

Psalms 21:9

21:9 You burn them up like a fiery furnace ¹⁹  when you appear; ²⁰ 

the Lord angrily devours them; ²¹ 

the fire consumes them.

Psalms 50:3

50:3 Our God approaches and is not silent; ²² 

consuming fire goes ahead of him

and all around him a storm rages. ²³ 

Isaiah 30:33

30:33 For ²⁴  the burial place is already prepared; ²⁵ 

it has been made deep and wide for the king. ²⁶ 

The firewood is piled high on it. ²⁷ 

The Lord’s breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone,

will ignite it.

Jeremiah 21:12

21:12 O royal family descended from David. ²⁸ 

The Lord says:

‘See to it that people each day ²⁹  are judged fairly. ³⁰ 

Deliver those who have been robbed from those ³¹  who oppress them.

Otherwise, my wrath will blaze out against you.

It will burn like a fire that cannot be put out

because of the evil that you have done. ³² 

Nahum 1:6

1:6 No one can withstand ³³  his indignation! ³⁴ 

No one can resist ³⁵  his fierce anger! ³⁶ 

His wrath is poured out like volcanic fire,

boulders are broken up ³⁷  as he approaches. ³⁸ 

Zephaniah 1:18

1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them

in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

The whole earth ³⁹  will be consumed by his fiery wrath. ⁴⁰ 

Indeed, ⁴¹  he will bring terrifying destruction ⁴²  on all who live on the earth.” ⁴³ 

[15:6]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[15:6]  ² tn The words “as fuel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[15:7]  ³ tn The word translated “set” is the same Hebrew word translated as “provide” in the previous verse.

[15:7]  ⁴ sn This escape refers to the exile of Ezekiel and others in 597 b.c. (Ezek 1:2; 2 Kgs 24:10-16).

[20:47]  ⁵ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[20:47]  ⁶ tn Fire also appears as a form of judgment in Ezek 15:4-7; 19:12, 14.

[20:48]  ⁷ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[22:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will put.” No object is supplied in the Hebrew, prompting many to emend the text to “I will blow.” See BHS and verse 21.

[4:24]  ⁹ tn The juxtaposition of the Hebrew terms אֵשׁ (’esh, “fire”) and קַנָּא (qanna’, “jealous”) is interesting in light of Deut 6:15 where the Lord is seen as a jealous God whose anger bursts into a destructive fire. For God to be “jealous” means that his holiness and uniqueness cannot tolerate pretended or imaginary rivals. It is not petty envy but response to an act of insubordination that must be severely judged (see H. Peels, NIDOTTE 3:937-40).

[29:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the wrath of the Lord and his zeal.” The expression is a hendiadys, a figure in which the second noun becomes adjectival to the first.

[29:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “smoke,” or “smolder.”

[29:20]  ¹² tn Heb “the entire oath.”

[29:20]  ¹³ tn Or “will lie in wait against him.”

[29:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “blot out his name from under the sky.”

[32:22]  ¹⁵ tn Or “to the lowest depths of the earth”; cf. NAB “to the depths of the nether world”; NIV “to the realm of death below”; NLT “to the depths of the grave.”

[32:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “mist,” “light drizzle.” In some contexts the term appears to refer to light rain, rather than dew.

[25:9]  ¹⁷ sn The removal of the sandal was likely symbolic of the relinquishment by the man of any claim to his dead brother’s estate since the sandal was associated with the soil or land (cf. Ruth 4:7-8). Spitting in the face was a sign of utmost disgust or disdain, an emotion the rejected widow would feel toward her uncooperative brother-in-law (cf. Num 12:14; Lev 15:8). See W. Bailey, NIDOTTE 2:544.

[25:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “build the house of his brother”; TEV “refuses to give his brother a descendant”; NLT “refuses to raise up a son for his brother.”

[21:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you make them like a furnace of fire.” Although many modern translations retain the literal Hebrew, the statement is elliptical. The point is not that he makes them like a furnace, but like an object burned in a furnace (cf. NEB, “at your coming you shall plunge them into a fiery furnace”).

[21:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “at the time of your face.” The “face” of the king here refers to his angry presence. See Lam 4:16.

[21:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “the Lord, in his anger he swallows them, and fire devours them.” Some take “the Lord” as a vocative, in which case he is addressed in vv. 8-9a. But this makes the use of the third person in v. 9b rather awkward, though the king could be the subject (see vv. 1-7).

[50:3]  ²² tn According to GKC 322 §109.e, the jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ’al) is used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.”

[50:3]  ²³ tn Heb “fire before him devours, and around him it is very stormy.”

[30:33]  ²⁴ tn Or “indeed.”

[30:33]  ²⁵ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “for arranged from before [or “yesterday”] is [?].” The meaning of תָּפְתֶּה (tafÿteh), which occurs only here, is unknown. The translation above (as with most English versions) assumes an emendation to תֹּפֶת (tofet, “Topheth”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT) and places the final hey (ה) on the beginning of the next word as an interrogative particle. Topheth was a place near Jerusalem used as a burial ground (see Jer 7:32; 19:11).

[30:33]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “Also it is made ready for the king, one makes it deep and wide.” If one takes the final hey (ה) on תָּפְתֶּה (tafÿteh) and prefixes it to גָּם (gam) as an interrogative particle (see the preceding note), one can translate, “Is it also made ready for the king?” In this case the question is rhetorical and expects an emphatic affirmative answer, “Of course it is!”

[30:33]  ²⁷ tn Heb “its pile of wood, fire and wood one makes abundant.”

[21:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “house of David.” This is essentially equivalent to the royal court in v. 11.

[21:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “to the morning” = “morning by morning” or “each morning.” See Isa 33:2 and Amos 4:4 for parallel usage.

[21:12]  ³⁰ sn The kings of Israel and Judah were responsible for justice. See Pss 122:5. The king himself was the final court of appeals judging from the incident of David with the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Sam 14), Solomon and the two prostitutes (1 Kgs 3:16-28), and Absalom’s attempts to win the hearts of the people of Israel by interfering with due process (2 Sam 15:2-4). How the system was designed to operate may be seen from 2 Chr 19:4-11.

[21:12]  ³¹ tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”

[21:12]  ³² tn Heb “Lest my wrath go out like fire and burn with no one to put it out because of the evil of your deeds.”

[1:6]  ³³ tn Heb “stand before” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT). The Hebrew verb עָמַד (’amad, “stand”) here denotes “to resist, withstand.” It is used elsewhere of warriors taking a stand in battle to hold their ground against enemies (Judg 2:14; Josh 10:8; 21:44; 23:9; 2 Kgs 10:4; Dan 11:16; Amos 2:15). It is also used of people trying to protect their lives from enemy attack (Esth 8:11; 9:16). Like a mighty warrior, the Lord will attack his enemies, but none will be able to make a stand against him; none will be able to hold their ground against him; and none will be able to protect themselves from his onslaught (Pss 76:7[8]; 147:17; Mal 3:2).

[1:6]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Who can stand before his indignation?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer; it is translated here as an emphatic denial. The Hebrew noun זַעַם (za’am, “indignation, curse”) connotes the angry wrath or indignant curse of God (Isa 10:5, 25; 13:5; 26:20; 30:27; Jer 10:10; 15:17; 50:25; Ezek 21:36; 22:24, 31; Hab 3:12; Zeph 3:8; Pss 38:4; 69:25; 78:49; 102:11; Lam 2:6; Dan 8:19; 11:36). It depicts anger expressed in the form of punishment (HALOT 276 s.v.; TWOT 1:247).

[1:6]  ³⁵ tn Heb “Who can rise up against…?” The verb יָקוּם (yaqum, “arise”) is here a figurative expression connoting resistance. Although the adversative sense of בְּ (bet) with יָקוּם (yaqum, “against him”) is attested, denoting hostile action taken against one’s enemy (Mic 7:6; Ps 27:12), the locative sense (“before him”) is preferred due to the parallelism with לִפְנֵי (lifney, “before him”).

[1:6]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Who can rise up against the heat of his anger?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer which is translated as an emphatic denial to clarify the point.

[1:6]  ³⁷ tn Or “burst into flames.” The Niphal perfect נִתְּצוּ (nittÿtsu) from נָתַץ (natats, “to break up, throw down”) may denote “are broken up” or “are thrown down.” The BHS editors suggest emending the MT’s נִתְּצוּ (nittÿtsu) to נִצְּתּוּ (nitsÿtu, Niphal perfect from יָצַת [yatsat, “to burn, to kindle, to burst into flames”]): “boulders burst into flames.” This merely involves the simple transposition of the second and third consonants. This emendation is supported by a few Hebrew mss (cited in BHS apparatus). It is supported contextually by fire and heat motifs in 1:5-6. The same metathesis of נִתְּצוּ and נִצְּתּוּ occurs in Jer 4:26.

[1:6]  ³⁸ tn Heb “before him” (so NAB, NIV, TEV).

[1:18]  ³⁹ tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.

[1:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”

[1:18]  ⁴¹ tn Or “for.”

[1:18]  ⁴² tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”

[1:18]  ⁴³ tn It is not certain where the Lord’s words end and the prophet’s words begin. It is possible that Zephaniah begins speaking in the middle of v. 17 or at the beginning of v. 18 (note the third person pronouns referring to the Lord).