Psalms 104:4

104:4 He makes the winds his messengers,

and the flaming fire his attendant. ¹ 

Matthew 14:26

14:26 When ²  the disciples saw him walking on the water ³  they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out with fear.

Luke 24:37-39

24:37 But they were startled and terrified, thinking ⁴  they saw a ghost. ⁵  24:38 Then ⁶  he said to them, “Why are you frightened, ⁷  and why do doubts ⁸  arise in your hearts? 24:39 Look at my hands and my feet; it’s me! ⁹  Touch me and see; a ghost ¹⁰  does not have flesh and bones like you see I have.”

Hebrews 1:7

1:7 And he says ¹¹  of the angels, “He makes ¹²  his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire,” ¹³ 

Hebrews 1:14

1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to serve those ¹⁴  who will inherit salvation?

¹ tc Heb “and his attendants a flaming fire.” The lack of agreement between the singular “fire” and plural “attendants” has prompted various emendations. Some read “fire and flame.” The present translation assumes an emendation to “his attendant” (יו in the Hebrew text being virtually dittographic).

² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

³ tn Grk “on the sea”; or “on the lake.” The translation “water” has been used here for stylistic reasons (cf. the same phrase in v. 25).

⁴ sn The disciples were still not comfortable at this point thinking that this could be Jesus raised from the dead. Instead they thought they saw a spirit.

⁵ tc This is not a reference to “a phantom” as read by the Western ms D. For πνεῦμα (pneuma) having the force of “ghost,” or “an independent noncorporeal being, in contrast to a being that can be perceived by the physical senses,” see BDAG 833-34 s.v. πνεῦμα 4.

⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁷ tn Or “disturbed,” “troubled.”

⁸ tn The expression here is an idiom; see BDAG 58 s.v. ἀναβαίνω 2. Here καρδία (kardia) is a collective singular; the expression has been translated as plural in English.

⁹ tn Grk “that it is I myself.”

¹⁰ tn See tc note on “ghost” in v. 37.

¹¹ sn The Greek correlative conjunctions μέν and δέ (men and de) emphasize the contrastive parallelism of vs. 7 (what God says about the angels) over against vv. 8-9 and vv. 10-12 (what God says about the son).

¹² tn Grk “He who makes.”

¹³ sn A quotation from Ps 104:4.

¹⁴ tn Grk “sent for service for the sake of those.”