Isaiah 51:10

51:10 Did you not dry up the sea,

the waters of the great deep?

Did you not make ¹  a path through the depths of the sea,

so those delivered from bondage ²  could cross over?

Nehemiah 9:11

9:11 You split the sea before them, and they crossed through ³  the sea on dry ground! But you threw their pursuers ⁴  into the depths, like a stone into surging ⁵  waters.

Job 26:12

26:12 By his power he stills ⁶  the sea;

by his wisdom he cut Rahab the great sea monster ⁷  to pieces. ⁸ 

Psalms 74:13

74:13 You destroyed ⁹  the sea by your strength;

you shattered the heads of the sea monster ¹⁰  in the water.

Psalms 114:3-5

114:3 The sea looked and fled; ¹¹ 

the Jordan River ¹²  turned back. ¹³ 

114:4 The mountains skipped like rams,

the hills like lambs. ¹⁴ 

114:5 Why do you flee, O sea?

Why do you turn back, O Jordan River?

Psalms 136:13

136:13 to the one who divided ¹⁵  the Red Sea ¹⁶  in two, ¹⁷ 

for his loyal love endures,

Jeremiah 31:35

The Lord Guarantees Israel’s Continuance

31:35 The Lord has made a promise to Israel.

He promises it as the one who fixed the sun to give light by day

and the moon and stars to give light by night.

He promises it as the one who stirs up the sea so that its waves roll.

He promises it as the one who is known as the Lord who rules over all. ¹⁸ 

Amos 9:5-6

9:5 The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. ¹⁹ 

He touches the earth and it dissolves; ²⁰ 

all who live on it mourn.

The whole earth ²¹  rises like the River Nile, ²² 

and then grows calm ²³  like the Nile in Egypt. ²⁴ 

9:6 He builds the upper rooms of his palace ²⁵  in heaven

and sets its foundation supports ²⁶  on the earth. ²⁷ 

He summons the water of the sea

and pours it out on the earth’s surface.

The Lord is his name.

¹ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made…?”

² tn Heb “the redeemed” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “the ransomed.”

³ tn Heb “in the midst of.”

⁴ tn Heb “those who pursued them.”

⁵ tn Heb “mighty.”

⁶ tn The verb רָגַע (raga’) has developed a Semitic polarity, i.e., having totally opposite meanings. It can mean “to disturb; to stir up” or “to calm; to still.” Gordis thinks both meanings have been invoked here. But it seems more likely that “calm” fits the context better.

⁷ tn Heb “Rahab” (רָהַב), the mythical sea monster that represents the forces of chaos in ancient Near Eastern literature. In the translation the words “the great sea monster” have been supplied appositionally in order to clarify “Rahab.”

⁸ sn Here again there are possible mythological allusions or polemics. The god Yam, “Sea,” was important in Ugaritic as a god of chaos. And Rahab is another name for the monster of the deep (see Job 9:13).

⁹ tn The derivation and meaning of the Polel verb form פּוֹרַרְתָּ (porarta) are uncertain. The form may be related to an Akkadian cognate meaning “break, shatter,” though the biblical Hebrew cognate of this verb always appears in the Hiphil or Hophal stem. BDB 830 s.v. II פָּרַר suggests a homonym here, meaning “to split; to divide.” A Hitpolel form of a root פָּרַר (parar) appears in Isa 24:19 with the meaning “to shake violently.”

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text has the plural form, “sea monsters” (cf. NRSV “dragons”), but it is likely that an original enclitic mem has been misunderstood as a plural ending. The imagery of the mythological sea monster is utilized here. See the note on “Leviathan” in v. 14.

¹¹ sn The psalmist recalls the crossing of the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).

¹² tn Heb “the Jordan” (also in v. 5). The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹³ sn The psalmist recalls the crossing of the Jordan River (Josh 3:13, 16).

¹⁴ sn The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. This may recall the theophany at Sinai when the mountain shook before God’s presence (Exod 19:18).

¹⁵ tn Or “cut.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “Reed Sea” (also in v. 15). “Reed Sea” (or “Sea of Reeds”) is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew expression יָם סוּף (yam suf), traditionally translated “Red Sea.” See the note on the term “Red Sea” in Exod 13:18.

¹⁷ tn Heb “into pieces.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.” See the study note on 2:19 for this title. In the Hebrew text the verse reads: “Thus says the Lord who provides the sun for light by day, the fixed ordering of the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea and its waves roar, whose name is Yahweh of armies, ‘…’” The hymnic introduction to the quote which does not begin until v. 36 has been broken down to avoid a long awkward sentence in English. The word “said” has been translated “made a promise” to reflect the nature of the content in vv. 36-37. The first two lines of the Hebrew poetry are a case of complex or supplementary ellipsis where the complete idea of “providing/establishing the fixed laws” is divided between the two lines (cf. E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 110-13). The necessity for recombining the ellipsis is obvious from reference to the fixed ordering in the next verse. (Some commentators prefer to delete the word as an erroneous glossing of the word in the following line (see, e.g., J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 277, n. y).

¹⁹ tn The words “will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

²⁰ tn Or “melts.” The verb probably depicts earthquakes and landslides. See v. 5b.

²¹ tn Heb “all of it.”

²² tn Heb “the Nile.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

²³ tn Or “sinks back down.”

²⁴ sn See Amos 8:8, which is very similar to this verse.

²⁵ tc The MT reads “his steps.” If this is correct, then the reference may be to the steps leading up to the heavenly temple or the throne of God (cf. 1 Kgs 10:19-20). The prefixed מ (mem) may be dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem). The translation assumes an emendation to עֲלִיָּתוֹ (’aliyyato, “his upper rooms”).

²⁶ tn Traditionally, “vault” (so ASV, NAB, NRSV). The precise meaning of this word in this context is unclear. Elsewhere it refers to objects grouped or held together. F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman (Amos [AB], 845-46) suggest the foundational structure of a building is in view.

²⁷ sn Verse 6a pictures the entire universe as a divine palace founded on the earth and extending into the heavens.