Psalms 78:47-48

78:47 He destroyed their vines with hail,

and their sycamore-fig trees with driving rain.

78:48 He rained hail down on their cattle, ¹ 

and hurled lightning bolts down on their livestock. ² 

Exodus 9:23-25

9:23 When Moses extended ³  his staff toward the sky, the Lord ⁴  sent thunder ⁵  and hail, and fire fell to the earth; ⁶  so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt. 9:24 Hail fell ⁷  and fire mingled ⁸  with the hail; the hail was so severe ⁹  that there had not been any like it ¹⁰  in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. 9:25 The hail struck everything in the open fields, both ¹¹  people and animals, throughout all the land of Egypt. The hail struck everything that grows ¹²  in the field, and it broke all the trees of the field to pieces.

Joshua 10:11

10:11 As they fled from Israel on the slope leading down from ¹³  Beth Horon, the Lord threw down on them large hailstones from the sky, ¹⁴  all the way to Azekah. They died – in fact, more died from the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword.

Job 38:22-23

38:22 Have you entered the storehouse ¹⁵  of the snow,

or seen the armory ¹⁶  of the hail,

38:23 which I reserve for the time of trouble,

for the day of war and battle? ¹⁷ 

¹ tn Heb “and he turned over to the hail their cattle.”

² tn Heb “and their livestock to the flames.” “Flames” here refer to the lightning bolts that accompanied the storm.

³ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next clause in view of the emphasis put on the subject, Yahweh, by the disjunctive word order of that clause.

⁴ tn By starting the clause with the subject (an example of disjunctive word order) the text is certainly stressing that Yahweh alone did this.

⁵ tn The expression נָתַן קֹלֹת (natan qolot) literally means “gave voices” (also “voice”). This is a poetic expression for sending the thunder. Ps 29:3 talks about the “voice of Yahweh” – the God of glory thunders!

⁶ sn This clause has been variously interpreted. Lightning would ordinarily accompany thunder; in this case the mention of fire could indicate that the lightning was beyond normal and that it was striking in such a way as to start fires on the ground. It could also mean that fire went along the ground from the pounding hail.

⁷ tn The verb is the common preterite וַיְהִי (vayÿhi), which is normally translated “and there was” if it is translated at all. The verb הָיָה (hayah), however, can mean “be, become, befall, fall, fall out, happen.” Here it could be simply translated “there was hail,” but the active “hail fell” fits the point of the sequence better.

⁸ tn The form מִתְלַקַּחַת (mitlaqqakhat) is a Hitpael participle; the clause reads, “and fire taking hold of itself in the midst of the hail.” This probably refers to lightning flashing back and forth. See also Ezek 1:4. God created a great storm with flashing fire connected to it.

⁹ tn Heb “very heavy” or “very severe.” The subject “the hail” is implied.

¹⁰ tn A literal reading of the clause would be “which there was not like it in all the land of Egypt.” The relative pronoun must be joined to the resumptive pronoun: “which like it (like which) there had not been.”

¹¹ tn The exact expression is “from man even to beast.” R. J. Williams lists this as an example of the inclusive use of the preposition מִן (min) to be rendered “both…and” (Hebrew Syntax, 57, §327).

¹² tn Heb “all the cultivated grain of.”

¹³ tn Heb “on the descent of.”

¹⁴ tn Or “heaven” (also in v. 13). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

¹⁵ sn Snow and ice are thought of as being in store, brought out by God for specific purposes, such as times of battle (see Josh 10:11; Exod 9:2ff.; Isa 28:17; Isa 30:30; and Ps 18:12 [13]).

¹⁶ tn The same Hebrew term (אוֹצָר, ’otsar), has been translated “storehouse” in the first line and “armory” in the second. This has been done for stylistic variation, but also because “hail,” as one of God’s “weapons” (cf. the following verse) suggests military imagery; in this context the word refers to God’s “ammunition dump” where he stockpiles hail.

¹⁷ sn The terms translated war and battle are different Hebrew words, but both may be translated “war” or “battle” depending on the context.