Exodus 19:16

19:16 On ¹  the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense ²  cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud ³  horn; ⁴  all the people who were in the camp trembled.

Exodus 20:18

20:18 All the people were seeing ⁵  the thundering and the lightning, and heard ⁶  the sound of the horn, and saw ⁷  the mountain smoking – and when ⁸  the people saw it they trembled with fear ⁹  and kept their distance. ¹⁰ 

Job 37:2-5

37:2 Listen carefully ¹¹  to the thunder of his voice,

to the rumbling ¹²  that proceeds from his mouth.

37:3 Under the whole heaven he lets it go,

even his lightning to the far corners ¹³  of the earth.

37:4 After that a voice roars;

he thunders with an exalted voice,

and he does not hold back his lightning bolts ¹⁴ 

when his voice is heard.

37:5 God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways; ¹⁵ 

he does great things beyond our understanding. ¹⁶ 

Job 40:9

40:9 Do you have an arm as powerful as God’s, ¹⁷ 

and can you thunder with a voice like his?

Ezekiel 10:5

10:5 The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard from the outer court, like the sound of the sovereign God ¹⁸  when he speaks.

Revelation 6:1

The Seven Seals

6:1 I looked on when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a thunderous voice, ¹⁹  “Come!” ²⁰ 

Revelation 8:5

8:5 Then ²¹  the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth, and there were crashes of thunder, roaring, ²²  flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

Revelation 11:19

11:19 Then ²³  the temple of God in heaven was opened and the ark of his covenant was visible within his temple. And there were flashes of lightning, roaring, ²⁴  crashes of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm. ²⁵ 

Revelation 14:2

14:2 I also heard a sound ²⁶  coming out of heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. Now ²⁷  the sound I heard was like that made by harpists playing their harps,

[19:16]  ¹ tn Heb “and it was on.”

[19:16]  ² tn Heb “heavy” (כָּבֵד, kaved).

[19:16]  ³ tn Literally “strong” (חָזָק, khazaq).

[19:16]  ⁴ tn The word here is שֹׁפָר (shofar), the normal word for “horn.” This word is used especially to announce something important in a public event (see 1 Kgs 1:34; 2 Sam 6:15). The previous word used in the context (v. 16) was יֹבֵל (yovel, “ram’s horn”).

[20:18]  ⁵ tn The participle is used here for durative action in the past time (GKC 359 §116.o).

[20:18]  ⁶ tn The verb “to see” (רָאָה, ra’ah) refers to seeing with all the senses, or perceiving. W. C. Kaiser suggests that this is an example of the figure of speech called zeugma because the verb “saw” yokes together two objects, one that suits the verb and the other that does not. So, the verb “heard” is inserted here to clarify (“Exodus,” EBC 2:427).

[20:18]  ⁷ tn The verb “saw” is supplied here because it is expected in English (see the previous note on “heard”).

[20:18]  ⁸ tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated as a temporal clause to the following clause, which receives the prominence.

[20:18]  ⁹ tn The meaning of נוּעַ (nua’) is “to shake, sway to and fro” in fear. Compare Isa 7:2 – “and his heart shook…as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.”

[20:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and they stood from/at a distance.”

[37:2]  ¹¹ tn The imperative is followed by the infinitive absolute from the same root to express the intensity of the verb.

[37:2]  ¹² tn The word is the usual word for “to meditate; to murmur; to groan”; here it refers to the low building of the thunder as it rumbles in the sky. The thunder is the voice of God (see Ps 29).

[37:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “wings,” and then figuratively for the extremities of garments, of land, etc.

[37:4]  ¹⁴ tn The verb simply has the pronominal suffix, “them.” The idea must be that when God brings in all the thunderings he does not hold back his lightning bolts either.

[37:5]  ¹⁵ tn The form is the Niphal participle, “wonders,” from the verb פָּלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be extraordinary”). Some commentators suppress the repeated verb “thunders,” and supply other verbs like “shows” or “works,” enabling them to make “wonders” the object of the verb rather than leaving it in an adverbial role. But as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 236) notes, no change is needed, for one is not surprised to find repetition in Elihu’s words.

[37:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and we do not know.”

[40:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “do you have an arm like God?” The words “as powerful as” have been supplied in the translation to clarify the metaphor.

[10:5]  ¹⁸ tn The name (“El Shaddai”) has often been translated “God Almighty,” primarily because Jerome translated it omnipotens (“all powerful”) in the Latin Vulgate. There has been much debate over the meaning of the name. For discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names Shaddai and Abram,” JBL 54 (1935): 173-210; R. Gordis, “The Biblical Root sdy-sd,” JTS 41 (1940): 34-43; and especially T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72.

[6:1]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “saying like a voice [or sound] of thunder.”

[6:1]  ²⁰ tc The addition of “and see” (καὶ ἴδε or καὶ βλέπε [kai ide or kai blepe]) to “come” (ἔρχου, ercou) in 6:1, 3-5, 7 is a gloss directed to John, i.e., “come and look at the seals and the horsemen!” But the command ἔρχου is better interpreted as directed to each of the horsemen. The shorter reading also has the support of the better witnesses.

[8:5]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[8:5]  ²² tn Or “sounds,” “voices.” It is not entirely clear what this refers to. BDAG 1071 s.v. φωνή 1 states, “In Rv we have ἀστραπαὶ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ βρονταί (cp. Ex 19:16) 4:5; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18 (are certain other sounds in nature thought of here in addition to thunder, as e.g. the roar of the storm?…).”

[11:19]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence on events within the vision.

[11:19]  ²⁴ tn Or “sounds,” “voices.” It is not entirely clear what this refers to. BDAG 1071 s.v. φωνή 1 states, “In Rv we have ἀστραπαὶ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ βρονταί (cp. Ex 19:16) 4:5; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18 (are certain other sounds in nature thought of here in addition to thunder, as e.g. the roar of the storm?…).”

[11:19]  ²⁵ tn Although BDAG 1075 s.v. χάλαζα gives the meaning “hail” here, it is not clear whether the adjective μεγάλη (megalh) refers to the intensity of the storm or the size of the individual hailstones, or both.

[14:2]  ²⁶ tn Or “a voice” (cf. Rev 1:15), but since in this context nothing is mentioned as the content of the voice, it is preferable to translate φωνή (fwnh) as “sound” here.

[14:2]  ²⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of a new topic.