5:22 “You should fear me!” says the Lord.
“You should tremble in awe before me! 1
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.” 2
38:10 when I prescribed 3 its limits,
and set 4 in place its bolts and doors,
38:11 when I said, ‘To here you may come 5
and no farther, 6
here your proud waves will be confined’? 7
93:3 The waves 8 roar, O Lord,
the waves roar,
the waves roar and crash. 9
93:4 Above the sound of the surging water, 10
and the mighty waves of the sea,
the Lord sits enthroned in majesty. 11
107:25 He gave the order for a windstorm, 12
and it stirred up the waves of the sea. 13
107:26 They 14 reached up to the sky,
then dropped into the depths.
The sailors’ strength 15 left them 16 because the danger was so great. 17
107:27 They swayed 18 and staggered like a drunk,
and all their skill proved ineffective. 19
107:28 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;
he delivered them from their troubles.
107:29 He calmed the storm, 20
and the waves 21 grew silent.
51:15 I am the Lord your God,
who churns up the sea so that its waves surge.
The Lord who commands armies is his name!
1 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.
2 tn Heb “it.” The referent is made explicit to avoid any possible confusion.
3 tc The MT has “and I broke,” which cannot mean “set, prescribed” or the like. The LXX and the Vulgate have such a meaning, suggesting a verb עֲשִׁית (’ashiyt, “plan, prescribe”). A. Guillaume finds an Arabic word with a meaning “measured it by span by my decree.” Would God give himself a decree? R. Gordis simply argues that the basic meaning “break” develops the connotation of “decide, determine” (2 Sam 5:24; Job 14:3; Dan 11:36).
4 tn Dhorme suggested reversing the two verbs, making this the first, and then “shatter” for the second colon.
5 tn The imperfect verb receives the permission nuance here.
6 tn The text has תֹסִיף (tosif, “and you may not add”), which is often used idiomatically (as in verbal hendiadys constructions).
7 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.
8 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).
9 tn Heb “the waves lift up, O
10 tn Heb “mighty waters.”
11 tn Heb “mighty on high [is] the
12 tn Heb “he spoke and caused to stand a stormy wind.”
13 tn Heb “and it stirred up its [i.e., the sea’s, see v. 23] waves.”
14 tn That is, the waves (see v. 25).
15 tn Heb “their being”; traditionally “their soul” (referring to that of the sailors). This is sometimes translated “courage” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
16 tn Or “melted.”
17 tn Heb “from danger.”
18 tn Only here does the Hebrew verb חָגַג (khagag; normally meaning “to celebrate”) carry the nuance “to sway.”
19 tn The Hitpael of בָלַע (vala’) occurs only here in the OT. Traditionally the form is derived from the verbal root בלע (“to swallow”), but HALOT 135 s.v. III בלע understands a homonym here with the meaning “to be confused.”
20 tn Heb “he raised [the] storm to calm.”
21 tn Heb “their waves.” The antecedent of the third masculine plural pronominal suffix is not readily apparent, unless it refers back to “waters” in v. 23.
22 tn The participle προσελθόντες (proselqonte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
23 tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
24 tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).
25 sn Who has authority over the seas and winds is discussed in the OT: Ps 104:3; 135:7; 107:23-30. When Jesus rebuked the winds and the sea he was making a statement about who he was.