Deuteronomy 32:24

32:24 They will be starved by famine,

eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; ¹ 

I will send the teeth of wild animals against them,

along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust.

Isaiah 14:29

14:29 Don’t be so happy, all you Philistines,

just because the club that beat you has been broken! ² 

For a viper will grow out of the serpent’s root,

and its fruit will be a darting adder. ³ 

Amos 5:19

5:19 Disaster will be inescapable, ⁴ 

as if a man ran from a lion only to meet a bear,

then escaped ⁵  into a house,

leaned his hand against the wall,

and was bitten by a poisonous snake.

Amos 9:3

9:3 Even if they were to hide on the top of Mount Carmel,

I would hunt them down and take them from there.

Even if they tried to hide from me ⁶  at the bottom of the sea,

from there ⁷  I would command the Sea Serpent ⁸  to bite them.

Revelation 9:19

9:19 For the power ⁹  of the horses resides ¹⁰  in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails are like snakes, having heads that inflict injuries.

[32:24]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term קֶטֶב (qetev) is probably metaphorical here for the sting of a disease (HALOT 1091-92 s.v.).

[14:29]  ² sn The identity of this “club” (also referred to as a “serpent” in the next line) is uncertain. It may refer to an Assyrian king, or to Ahaz. For discussion see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:331-32. The viper/adder referred to in the second half of the verse is his successor.

[14:29]  ³ tn Heb “flying burning one.” The designation “burning one” may allude to the serpent’s appearance or the effect of its poisonous bite. (See the note at 6:2.) The qualifier “flying” probably refers to the serpent’s quick, darting movements, though one might propose a homonym here, meaning “biting.” (See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 1:332, n. 18.) Some might think in terms of a mythological flying, fire breathing dragon (cf. NAB “a flying saraph”; CEV “a flying fiery dragon”), but this proposal does not make good sense in 30:6, where the phrase “flying burning one” appears again in a list of desert animals.

[5:19]  ⁴ tn The words “Disaster will be inescapable” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “went” (so KJV, NRSV).

[9:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “from before my eyes.”

[9:3]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps simply, “there,” if the מ (mem) prefixed to the adverb is dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem).

[9:3]  ⁸ sn If the article indicates a definite serpent, then the mythological Sea Serpent, symbolic of the world’s chaotic forces, is probably in view. See Job 26:13 and Isa 27:1 (where it is also called Leviathan). Elsewhere in the OT this serpent is depicted as opposing the Lord, but this text implies that even this powerful enemy of God is ultimately subject to his sovereign will.

[9:19]  ⁹ tn See BDAG 352 s.v. ἐξουσία 2, “potential or resource to command, control, or govern, capability, might, power.”

[9:19]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “is.”