Exodus 14:21-22

14:21 Moses stretched out his hand toward the sea, and the Lord drove the sea apart ¹  by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea into dry land, and the water was divided. 14:22 So the Israelites went through the middle of the sea on dry ground, the water forming a wall ²  for them on their right and on their left.

Joshua 3:16-17

3:16 the water coming downstream toward them stopped flowing. ³  It piled up far upstream ⁴  at Adam (the city near Zarethan); there was no water at all flowing to the sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea). ⁵  The people crossed the river opposite Jericho. ⁶  3:17 The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan. All Israel crossed over on dry ground until the entire nation was on the other side. ⁷ 

Psalms 114:3

114:3 The sea looked and fled; ⁸ 

the Jordan River ⁹  turned back. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 114:5

114:5 Why do you flee, O sea?

Why do you turn back, O Jordan River?

Isaiah 50:2

50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?

Why does no one respond when I call? ¹¹ 

Is my hand too weak ¹²  to deliver ¹³  you?

Do I lack the power to rescue you?

Look, with a mere shout ¹⁴  I can dry up the sea;

I can turn streams into a desert,

so the fish rot away and die

from lack of water. ¹⁵ 

Nahum 1:4

1:4 He shouts a battle cry ¹⁶  against the sea ¹⁷  and makes it dry up; ¹⁸ 

he makes all the rivers ¹⁹  run dry.

Bashan and Carmel wither; ²⁰ 

the blossom of Lebanon withers.

Mark 4:39

4:39 So ²¹  he got up and rebuked ²²  the wind, and said to the sea, ²³  “Be quiet! Calm down!” Then ²⁴  the wind stopped, and it was dead calm.

Revelation 16:12

16:12 Then ²⁵  the sixth angel ²⁶  poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and dried up its water ²⁷  to prepare the way ²⁸  for the kings from the east. ²⁹ 

[14:21]  ¹ tn Or “drove the sea back” (NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV). The verb is simply the Hiphil of הָלַךְ (halakh, “to walk, go”). The context requires that it be interpreted along the lines of “go back, go apart.”

[14:22]  ² tn The clause literally reads, “and the waters [were] for them a wall.” The word order in Hebrew is disjunctive, with the vav (ו) on the noun introducing a circumstantial clause.

[3:16]  ³ tn Heb “the waters descending from above stood still.”

[3:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “they stood in one pile very far away.”

[3:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “the [waters] descending toward the sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) were completely cut off.”

[3:16]  ⁶ map For the location of Jericho see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[3:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “and all Israel was crossing over on dry ground until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.”

[114:3]  ⁸ sn The psalmist recalls the crossing of the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).

[114:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Jordan” (also in v. 5). The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[114:3]  ¹⁰ sn The psalmist recalls the crossing of the Jordan River (Josh 3:13, 16).

[50:2]  ¹¹ sn The present tense translation of the verbs assumes that the Lord is questioning why Israel does not attempt to counter his arguments. Another possibility is to take the verbs as referring to past events: “Why did no one meet me when I came? Why did no one answer when I called?” In this case the Lord might be asking why Israel rejected his calls to repent and his offer to deliver them.

[50:2]  ¹² tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ¹³ tn Or “ransom” (NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “with my rebuke.”

[50:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the fish stink from lack of water and die from thirst.”

[1:4]  ¹⁶ tn The term גָּעַר (ga’ar) often denotes “reprimand” and “rebuke” (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). When it is used in the context of a military attack, it denotes an angry battle cry shouted by a mighty warrior to strike fear into his enemies to drive them away (e.g., 2 Sam 23:16; Isa 30:17; Pss 18:15; 76:6; 80:17; 104:7). For example, the parallel Ugaritic term is used when Baal utters a battle cry against Yamm before they fight to the death. For further study see, A. A. MacIntosh, “A Consideration of Hebrew g`r,” VT 14 (1969): 474; P. J. van Zijl, “A Consideration of the root ga’ar (“rebuke”),” OTWSA 12 (1969): 56-63; A. Caquot, TDOT 3:49-53.

[1:4]  ¹⁷ sn The “sea” is personified as an antagonistic enemy, representing the wicked forces of chaos (Pss 66:6; 72:8; 80:12; 89:26; 93:3-4; Isa 50:2; Mic 7:12; Hab 3:8; Zech 9:10).

[1:4]  ¹⁸ tn This somewhat unusual use of the preterite (וַיַּבְּשֵׁהוּ, vayyabbÿshehu) follows a participle which depicts characteristic (present-time) action or imminent future action; the preterite depicts the subsequent present or future-time action (see IBHS 561-62 §33.3.5).

[1:4]  ¹⁹ sn The Assyrians waged war every spring after the Tigris and Euphrates rivers dried up, allowing them to cross. As the Mighty Warrior par excellence, the Lord is able to part the rivers to attack Assyria.

[1:4]  ²⁰ tn The term אֻמְלַל (’umlal, “withers”) occurs twice in this verse in MT. The repetition of אֻמְלַל is also supported by the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpNah). The BHS editors suggest emending the first occurrence of אֻמְלַל (“withers”) to דָּלְלוּ (dollu, “languishes”) to recover the letter ד (dalet) in the partial acrostic. Several versions do, in fact, employ two different verbs in the line (LXX, Syr, Targum, and Vg). However, the first verb at the beginning of the line in all of the versions reflects a reading of אֻמְלַל. Although several elements of an acrostic are present in Nahum 1, the acrostic is incomplete (only א [alef] to כ [kaf] in vv. 2-8) and broken (several elements are missing within vv. 2-8). There is no textual evidence for a complete, unbroken acrostic throughout the book of Nahum in any ancient Hebrew mss or other textual versions; it is most prudent simply to leave the MT as it stands.

[4:39]  ²¹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

[4:39]  ²² tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).

[4:39]  ²³ sn Who has authority over the seas and winds is discussed in the OT: Ps 104:3; 135:7; 107:23-30. When Jesus rebuked the wind and the sea he was making a statement about who he was.

[4:39]  ²⁴ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[16:12]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[16:12]  ²⁶ tn Grk “the sixth”; the referent (the sixth angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:12]  ²⁷ tn Grk “and its water was dried up.” Here the passive construction has been translated as an active one.

[16:12]  ²⁸ tn Grk “in order that the way might be prepared.” Here the passive construction has been translated as an active one.

[16:12]  ²⁹ tn Grk “from the rising of the sun.” BDAG 74 s.v. ἀνατολή 2.a takes this as a geographical direction: “ἀπὸ ἀ. ἡλίου…from the east Rv 7:2; 16:12; simply ἀπὸ ἀ. …21:13.”