Isaiah 5:24

5:24 Therefore, as flaming fire ¹  devours straw,

and dry grass disintegrates in the flames,

so their root will rot,

and their flower will blow away like dust. ² 

For they have rejected the law of the Lord who commands armies,

they have spurned the commands ³  of the Holy One of Israel. ⁴ 

Psalms 37:20

37:20 But ⁵  evil men will die;

the Lord’s enemies will be incinerated ⁶  –

they will go up in smoke. ⁷ 

Hosea 13:3

13:3 Therefore they will disappear like ⁸  the morning mist, ⁹ 

like early morning dew that evaporates, ¹⁰ 

like chaff that is blown away ¹¹  from a threshing floor,

like smoke that disappears through an open window.

Joel 2:20

2:20 I will remove the one from the north ¹²  far from you.

I will drive him out to a dry and desolate place.

Those in front will be driven eastward into the Dead Sea, ¹³ 

and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea. ¹⁴ 

His stench will rise up as a foul smell.” ¹⁵ 

Indeed, the Lord ¹⁶  has accomplished great things.

Revelation 14:11

14:11 And the smoke from their ¹⁷  torture will go up ¹⁸  forever and ever, and those who worship the beast and his image will have ¹⁹  no rest day or night, along with ²⁰  anyone who receives the mark of his name.”

¹ tn Heb “a tongue of fire” (so NASB), referring to a tongue-shaped flame.

² sn They are compared to a flowering plant that withers quickly in a hot, arid climate.

³ tn Heb “the word.”

⁴ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

⁵ tn Or “for,” but Hebrew כי in this case would have to extend all the way back to v. 17a. Another option is to understand the particle as asseverative, “surely” (see v. 22).

⁶ tc The meaning of the MT (כִּיקַר כָּרִים [kiqar karim], “like what is precious among the pastures/rams”) is uncertain. One possibility is to take the noun כָּרִים as “pastures” and interpret “what is precious” as referring to flowers that blossom but then quickly disappear (see v. 2 and BDB 430 s.v. יָקָר 3). If כָּרִים is taken as “rams,” then “what is precious” might refer to the choicest portions of rams. The present translation follows a reading in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpPs37), כיקוד כורם (“like the burning of an oven”). The next line, which pictures the Lord’s enemies being consumed in smoke, supports this reading, which assumes confusion of the Hebrew letters resh (ר) and dalet (ד) at the end of the first word in the sequence.

⁷ tn Heb “they perish in smoke, they perish.” In addition to repeating the verb for emphasis, the psalmist uses the perfect form of the verb to picture the enemies’ demise as if it had already taken place. In this way he draws attention to the certitude of their judgment.

⁸ tn Heb “they will be like” (so NASB, NIV).

⁹ tn The phrase כְּעֲנַן־בֹּקֶר (kÿ’anan-boqer, “like a cloud of the morning”) occurs also in Hos 6:4 in a similar simile. The Hebrew poets and prophets refer to morning clouds as a simile for transitoriness (Job 7:9; Isa 44:22; Hos 6:4; 13:3; HALOT 858 s.v. עָנָן 1.b; BDB 778 s.v. עָנָן 1.c).

¹⁰ tn Heb “like the early rising dew that goes away”; TEV “like the dew that vanishes early in the day.”

¹¹ tn Heb “storm-driven away”; KJV, ASV “driven with the whirlwind out.” The verb יְסֹעֵר (yÿso’er, Poel imperfect 3rd person masculine singular from סָעַר, sa’ar, “to storm”) often refers to the intense action of strong, raging storm winds (e.g., Jonah 1:11, 13). The related nouns refer to “heavy gale,” “storm wind,” and “high wind” (BDB 704 s.v. סָעַר; HALOT 762 s.v. סער). The verb is used figuratively to describe the intensity of God’s destruction of the wicked whom he will “blow away” (Isa 54:11; Hos 13:3; Hab 3:14; Zech 7:14; BDB 704 s.v.; HALOT 762 s.v.).

¹² sn The allusion to the one from the north is best understood as having locusts in view. It is not correct to say that this reference to the enemy who came form the north excludes the possibility of a reference to locusts and must be understood as human armies. Although locust plagues usually approached Palestine from the east or southeast, the severe plague of 1915, for example, came from the northeast.

¹³ tn Heb “his face to the eastern sea.” In this context the eastern sea is probably the Dead Sea.

¹⁴ tn Heb “and his rear to the western sea.” The western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea.

¹⁵ sn Heb “and his foul smell will ascend.” The foul smell probably refers to the unpleasant odor of decayed masses of dead locusts. The Hebrew word for “foul smell” is found only here in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word for “stench” appears only here and in Isa 34:3 and Amos 4:10. In the latter references it refers to the stench of dead corpses on a field of battle.

¹⁶ tn The Hebrew text does not have “the Lord.” Two interpretations are possible. This clause may refer to the enemy described in the immediately preceding verses, in which case it would have a negative sense: “he has acted in a high-handed manner.” Or it may refer to the Lord, in which case it would have a positive sense: “the Lord has acted in a marvelous manner.” This is clearly the sense of the same expression in v. 21, where in fact “the Lord” appears as the subject of the verb. It seems best to understand the clause the same way in both verses.

¹⁷ tn The Greek pronoun is plural here even though the verbs in the previous verse are singular.

¹⁸ tn The present tense ἀναβαίνει (anabainei) has been translated as a futuristic present (ExSyn 535-36). This is also consistent with the future passive βασανισθήσεται (basanisqhsetai) in v. 10.

¹⁹ tn The present tense ἔχουσιν (ecousin) has been translated as a futuristic present to keep the English tense consistent with the previous verb (see note on “will go up” earlier in this verse).

²⁰ tn Grk “and.”