Psalms 50:3

50:3 Our God approaches and is not silent; ¹ 

consuming fire goes ahead of him

and all around him a storm rages. ² 

Psalms 144:5

144:5 O Lord, make the sky sink ³  and come down! ⁴ 

Touch the mountains and make them smolder! ⁵ 

Exodus 19:18

19:18 Now Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire, and its smoke went up like the smoke of a great furnace, ⁶  and the whole mountain shook ⁷  violently.

Isaiah 64:1-2

64:1 (63:19b) ⁸  If only you would tear apart the sky ⁹  and come down!

The mountains would tremble ¹⁰  before you!

64:2 (64:1) As when fire ignites dry wood,

or fire makes water boil,

let your adversaries know who you are, ¹¹ 

and may the nations shake at your presence!

Revelation 19:3

19:3 Then ¹²  a second time the crowd shouted, “Hallelujah!” The smoke rises from her forever and ever. ¹³ 

¹ tn According to GKC 322 §109.e, the jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ’al) is used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.”

² tn Heb “fire before him devours, and around him it is very stormy.”

³ tn The Hebrew verb נָטָה (natah) can carry the sense “to [cause to] bend; to [cause to] bow down.” For example, Gen 49:15 pictures Issachar as a donkey that “bends” its shoulder or back under a burden. Here the Lord causes the sky, pictured as a dome or vault, to sink down as he descends in the storm. See Ps 18:9.

⁴ tn Heb “so you might come down.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose after the preceding imperative. The same type of construction is utilized in v. 6.

⁵ tn Heb “so they might smolder.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose after the preceding imperative.

⁶ sn The image is that of a large kiln, as in Gen 19:28.

⁷ tn This is the same word translated “trembled” above (v. 16).

⁸ sn In BHS the chapter division occurs in a different place from the English Bible: 64:1 ET (63:19b HT) and 64:2-12 (64:1-11 HT). Beginning with 65:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

⁹ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

¹⁰ tn Or “quake.” נָזֹלּוּ (nazollu) is from the verbal root זָלַל (zalal, “quake”; see HALOT 272 s.v. II זלל). Perhaps there is a verbal allusion to Judg 5:5, the only other passage where this verb occurs. In that passage the poet tells how the Lord’s appearance to do battle caused the mountains to shake.

¹¹ tn Heb “to make known your name to your adversaries.” Perhaps the infinitive construct with preposition -לְ (lamed) should be construed with “come down” in v. 1a, or subordinated to the following line: “To make known your name to your adversaries, let the nations shake from before you.”

¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

¹³ tn Or “her smoke ascends forever and ever.”