Psalms 29:3

29:3 The Lord’s shout is heard over the water; ¹ 

the majestic God thunders, ² 

the Lord appears over the surging water. ³ 

Revelation 17:1

The Great Prostitute and the Beast

17:1 Then ⁴  one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me. ⁵  “Come,” he said, “I will show you the condemnation and punishment ⁶  of the great prostitute who sits on many waters,

Revelation 17:15

17:15 Then ⁷  the angel ⁸  said to me, “The waters you saw (where the prostitute is seated) are peoples, multitudes, ⁹  nations, and languages.

¹ tn Heb “the voice of the Lord [is] over the water.” As the next line makes clear, the “voice of the Lord” is here the thunder that accompanies a violent storm. The psalm depicts the Lord in the role of a warrior-king, so the thunder is his battle cry, as it were.

² tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form is probably descriptive. In dramatic fashion the psalmist portrays the Lord coming in the storm to do battle with his enemies and to vindicate his people.

³ tn Traditionally “many waters.” The geographical references in the psalm (Lebanon, Sirion, Kadesh) suggest this is a reference to the Mediterranean Sea (see Ezek 26:19; 27:26). The psalmist describes a powerful storm moving in from the sea and sweeping over the mountainous areas north of Israel. The “surging waters” may symbolize the hostile enemies of God who seek to destroy his people (see Pss 18:17; 32:6; 77:20; 93:4; 144:7; Isa 17:13; Jer 51:55; Ezek 26:19; Hab 3:15). In this case the Lord is depicted as elevated above and sovereign over the raging waters.

⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

⁵ tn Grk “with me.” The translation “with me” implies that John was engaged in a dialogue with the one speaking to him (e.g., Jesus or an angel) when in reality it was a one-sided conversation, with John doing all the listening. For this reason, μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ (met’ emou, “with me”) was translated as “to me.”

⁶ tn Here one Greek term, κρίμα (krima), has been translated by the two English terms “condemnation” and “punishment.” See BDAG 567 s.v. 4.b, “mostly in an unfavorable sense, of the condemnatory verdict and sometimes the subsequent punishment itself 2 Pt 2:3; Jd 4…τὸ κ. τῆς πόρνης the condemnation and punishment of the prostitute Rv 17:1.”

⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹ tn Grk “and multitudes,” but καί (kai) has not been translated here and before the following term since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.