Job 37:1-2

37:1 At this also my heart pounds

and leaps from its place.

37:2 Listen carefully ¹  to the thunder of his voice,

to the rumbling ²  that proceeds from his mouth.

Job 37:9

37:9 A tempest blows out from its chamber,

icy cold from the driving winds. ³ 

Job 37:14

37:14 “Pay attention to this, Job!

Stand still and consider the wonders God works.

Exodus 19:16-19

19:16 On ⁴  the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense ⁵  cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud ⁶  horn; ⁷  all the people who were in the camp trembled. 19:17 Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their place at the foot of the mountain. 19:18 Now Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire, and its smoke went up like the smoke of a great furnace, ⁸  and the whole mountain shook ⁹  violently. 19:19 When the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, ¹⁰  Moses was speaking ¹¹  and God was answering him with a voice. ¹² 

Deuteronomy 4:11-12

4:11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it ¹³  and yet dark with a thick cloud. ¹⁴  4:12 Then the Lord spoke to you from the middle of the fire; you heard speech but you could not see anything – only a voice was heard. ¹⁵ 

Deuteronomy 5:22-24

The Narrative of the Sinai Revelation and Israel’s Response

5:22 The Lord said these things to your entire assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the cloud, and the darkness with a loud voice, and that was all he said. ¹⁶  Then he inscribed the words ¹⁷  on two stone tablets and gave them to me. 5:23 Then, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness while the mountain was ablaze, all your tribal leaders and elders approached me. 5:24 You said, “The Lord our God has shown us his great glory ¹⁸  and we have heard him speak from the middle of the fire. It is now clear to us ¹⁹  that God can speak to human beings and they can keep on living.

Deuteronomy 5:1

The Opening Exhortation

5:1 Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: ²⁰  “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them!

Deuteronomy 19:11

19:11 However, suppose a person hates someone else ²¹  and stalks him, attacks him, kills him, ²²  and then flees to one of these cities.

Deuteronomy 19:2

19:2 you must set apart for yourselves three cities ²³  in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.

Deuteronomy 2:1

The Journey from Kadesh Barnea to Moab

2:1 Then we turned and set out toward the desert land on the way to the Red Sea ²⁴  just as the Lord told me to do, detouring around Mount Seir for a long time.

Deuteronomy 2:11

2:11 These people, as well as the Anakites, are also considered Rephaites; ²⁵  the Moabites call them Emites.

Ezekiel 1:4

1:4 As I watched, I noticed ²⁶  a windstorm ²⁷  coming from the north – an enormous cloud, with lightning flashing, ²⁸  such that bright light ²⁹  rimmed it and came from ³⁰  it like glowing amber ³¹  from the middle of a fire.

Nahum 1:3

1:3 The Lord is slow to anger ³²  but great in power; ³³ 

the Lord will certainly not ³⁴  allow the wicked ³⁵  to go unpunished.

The Divine Warrior Destroys His Enemies but Protects His People

He marches out ³⁶  in the whirlwind and the raging storm;

dark storm clouds billow like dust ³⁷  under his feet. ³⁸ 

[37:2]  ¹ tn The imperative is followed by the infinitive absolute from the same root to express the intensity of the verb.

[37:2]  ² tn The word is the usual word for “to meditate; to murmur; to groan”; here it refers to the low building of the thunder as it rumbles in the sky. The thunder is the voice of God (see Ps 29).

[37:9]  ³ tn The “driving winds” reflects the Hebrew “from the scatterers.” This refers to the north winds that bring the cold air and the ice and snow and hard rains.

[19:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “and it was on.”

[19:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “heavy” (כָּבֵד, kaved).

[19:16]  ⁶ tn Literally “strong” (חָזָק, khazaq).

[19:16]  ⁷ tn The word here is שֹׁפָר (shofar), the normal word for “horn.” This word is used especially to announce something important in a public event (see 1 Kgs 1:34; 2 Sam 6:15). The previous word used in the context (v. 16) was יֹבֵל (yovel, “ram’s horn”).

[19:18]  ⁸ sn The image is that of a large kiln, as in Gen 19:28.

[19:18]  ⁹ tn This is the same word translated “trembled” above (v. 16).

[19:19]  ¹⁰ tn The active participle הוֹלֵךְ (holekh) is used to add the idea of “continually” to the action of the sentence; here the trumpet became very loud – continually. See GKC 344 §113.u.

[19:19]  ¹¹ tn The two verbs here (“spoke” and “answered”) are imperfect tenses; they emphasize repeated action but in past time. The customary imperfect usually is translated “would” or “used to” do the action, but here continuous action in past time is meant. S. R. Driver translates it “kept speaking” and “kept answering” (Exodus, 172).

[19:19]  ¹² tn The text simply has בְּקוֹל (bÿqol); it could mean “with a voice” or it could mean “in thunder” since “voice” was used in v. 16 for thunder. In this context it would be natural to say that the repeated thunderings were the voice of God – but how is that an answer? Deut 4:12 says that the people heard the sound of words. U. Cassuto (Exodus, 232-33) rightly comments, “He was answering him with a loud voice so that it was possible for Moses to hear His words clearly in the midst of the storm.” He then draws a parallel from Ugaritic where it tells that one of the gods was speaking in a loud voice.

[4:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “a mountain burning with fire as far as the heart of the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[4:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “darkness, cloud, and heavy cloud.”

[4:12]  ¹⁵ tn The words “was heard” are supplied in the translation to avoid the impression that the voice was seen.

[5:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he added no more” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NLT “This was all he said at that time.”

[5:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the words spoken by the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:24]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “his glory and his greatness.”

[5:24]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “this day we have seen.”

[5:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and Moses called to all Israel and he said to them”; NAB, NASB, NIV “Moses summoned (convened NRSV) all Israel.”

[19:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “his neighbor.”

[19:11]  ²² tn Heb “rises against him and strikes him fatally.”

[19:2]  ²³ sn These three cities, later designated by Joshua, were Kedesh of Galilee, Shechem, and Hebron (Josh 20:7-9).

[2:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Reed Sea.” See note on the term “Red Sea” in Deut 1:40.

[2:11]  ²⁵ sn Rephaites. The earliest reference to this infamous giant race is, again, in the story of the invasion of the eastern kings (Gen 14:5). They lived around Ashteroth Karnaim, probably modern Tell Ashtarah (cf. Deut 1:4), in the Bashan plateau east of the Sea of Galilee. Og, king of Bashan, was a Rephaite (Deut 3:11; Josh 12:4; 13:12). Other texts speak of them or their kinfolk in both Transjordan (Deut 2:20; 3:13) and Canaan (Josh 11:21-22; 14:12, 15; 15:13-14; Judg 1:20; 1 Sam 17:4; 1 Chr 20:4-8). They also appear in extra-biblical literature, especially in connection with the city state of Ugarit. See C. L’Heureux, “Ugaritic and Biblical Rephaim,” HTR 67 (1974): 265-74.

[1:4]  ²⁶ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[1:4]  ²⁷ sn Storms are often associated with appearances of God (see Nah 1:3; Ps 18:12). In some passages, the “storm” (סְעָרָה, sÿ’arah) may be a whirlwind (Job 38:1, 2 Kgs 2:1).

[1:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “fire taking hold of itself,” perhaps repeatedly. The phrase occurs elsewhere only in Exod 9:24 in association with a hailstorm. The LXX interprets the phrase as fire flashing like lightning, but it is possibly a self-sustaining blaze of divine origin. The LXX also reverses the order of the descriptors, i.e., “light went around it and fire flashed like lightning within it.”

[1:4]  ²⁹ tn Or “radiance.” The term also occurs in 1:27b.

[1:4]  ³⁰ tc Or “was in it”; cf. LXX ἐν τῷ μέσῳ αὐτοῦ (en tw mesw autou, “in its midst”).

[1:4]  ³¹ tn The LXX translates חַשְׁמַל (khashmal) with the word ἤλεκτρον (hlektron, “electrum”; so NAB), an alloy of silver and gold, perhaps envisioning a comparison to the glow of molten metal.

[1:3]  ³² tn Heb “long of anger,” i.e., “slow to anger” (Exod 34:6; Num 14:18; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Pss 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Prov 14:29; 15:18; 16:32; Neh 9:17) or restraining anger (Jer 15:15; Prov 25:15). Cf. NCV “The Lord does not become angry quickly.”

[1:3]  ³³ tc The BHS editors suggest emending MT “power” (כֹּחַ, koakh) to “mercy” (חֶסֶד, khesed) as in Exod 34:6; Num 14:18; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Ps 103:8; Neh 9:17. However, this is unnecessary, it has no textual support, and it misses the rhetorical point intended by Nahum’s modification of the traditional expression.

[1:3]  ³⁴ tn Or “he will certainly not acquit [the wicked]”; KJV “and will not at all acquit the wicked.” The root נָקַה (naqah, “to acquit”) is repeated for emphasis. The phrase “he will certainly not allow the wicked to go unpunished” (וְנַקֵּה לֹא יְנַקֶּה, vÿnaqqeh lo’ yÿnaqqeh) is an emphatic construction (see GKC 215 §75.hh; IBHS 584-88 §35.3.1).

[1:3]  ³⁵ tn The words “the wicked” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation; they are implied when this idiom is used (Exod 34:7; Num 14:18). In legal contexts the nuance “the guilty” is most appropriate; in nonlegal contexts the nuance “the wicked” is used.

[1:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “His way is in the whirlwind” (so NIV). The noun דַּרְכּוֹ (darko, “his way”) is nuanced here in a verbal sense. The noun דֶּרֶךְ (derekh) often denotes a “journey” (Gen 28:20; 30:36; 45:23; Num 9:10; Josh 9:13; 1 Sam 21:6; 1 Kgs 18:27). The verb דָּרַךְ (darakh) often means “to tread a path” (Job 22:15) and “to march out” (Judg 5:21). The Lord is portrayed as the Divine Warrior marching out to battle (Exod 15:1-12; Deut 33:2; Judg 5:4-5; Pss 18:7-15; 68:4-10, 32-35; 77:16-19; Mic 1:3-4; Hab 3:3-15).

[1:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “clouds are dust.”

[1:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “of his feet.”