Isaiah 24:19-23

24:19 The earth is broken in pieces,

the earth is ripped to shreds,

the earth shakes violently. ¹ 

24:20 The earth will stagger around ²  like a drunk;

it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm. ³ 

Its sin will weigh it down,

and it will fall and never get up again.

The Lord Will Become King

24:21 At that time ⁴  the Lord will punish ⁵ 

the heavenly forces in the heavens ⁶ 

and the earthly kings on the earth.

24:22 They will be imprisoned in a pit, ⁷ 

locked up in a prison,

and after staying there for a long time, ⁸  they will be punished. ⁹ 

24:23 The full moon will be covered up, ¹⁰ 

the bright sun ¹¹  will be darkened; ¹² 

for the Lord who commands armies will rule ¹³ 

on Mount Zion in Jerusalem ¹⁴ 

in the presence of his assembly, in majestic splendor. ¹⁵ 

Ezekiel 14:21

14:21 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments – sword, famine, wild animals, and plague – to Jerusalem ¹⁶  to kill both people and animals!

Joel 2:30-31

2:30 I will produce portents both in the sky ¹⁷  and on the earth –

blood, fire, and columns of smoke.

2:31 The sunlight will be turned to darkness

and the moon to the color of blood, ¹⁸ 

before the day of the Lord comes –

that great and terrible day!

Zechariah 14:4

14:4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which lies to the east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, leaving a great valley. Half the mountain will move northward and the other half southward. ¹⁹ 

Luke 21:11

21:11 There will be great earthquakes, and famines ²⁰  and plagues in various places, and there will be terrifying sights ²¹  and great signs ²²  from heaven.

Luke 21:25-26

The Arrival of the Son of Man

21:25 “And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, ²³  and on the earth nations will be in distress, ²⁴  anxious ²⁵  over the roaring of the sea and the surging waves. 21:26 People will be fainting from fear ²⁶  and from the expectation of what is coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷ 

Acts 2:19

2:19 And I will perform wonders in the sky ²⁸  above

and miraculous signs ²⁹  on the earth below,

blood and fire and clouds of smoke.

Acts 11:28

11:28 One of them, named Agabus, got up ³⁰  and predicted ³¹  by the Spirit that a severe ³²  famine ³³  was about to come over the whole inhabited world. ³⁴  (This ³⁵  took place during the reign of Claudius.) ³⁶ 

[24:19]  ¹ tn Once more repetition is used to draw attention to a statement. In the Hebrew text each lines ends with אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”). Each line also uses a Hitpolel verb form from a geminate root preceded by an emphatic infinitive absolute.

[24:20]  ² tn Heb “staggering, staggers.” The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before the finite verb for emphasis and sound play.

[24:20]  ³ tn The words “in a windstorm” are supplied in the translation to clarify the metaphor.

[24:21]  ⁴ tn Or “in that day” (so KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[24:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “visit [in judgment].”

[24:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “the host of the height in the height.” The “host of the height/heaven” refers to the heavenly luminaries (stars and planets, see, among others, Deut 4:19; 17:3; 2 Kgs 17:16; 21:3, 5; 23:4-5; 2 Chr 33:3, 5) that populate the divine/heavenly assembly in mythological and prescientific Israelite thought (see Job 38:7; Isa 14:13).

[24:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “they will be gathered [in] a gathering [as] a prisoner in a cistern.” It is tempting to eliminate אֲסֵפָה (’asefah, “a gathering”) as dittographic or as a gloss, but sound repetition is one of the main characteristics of the style of this section of the chapter.

[24:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “and after a multitude of days.”

[24:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “visited” (so KJV, ASV). This verse can mean to visit for good or for evil. The translation assumes the latter, based on v. 21a. However, BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד B.Niph.2 suggests the meaning “visit graciously” here, in which case one might translate “they will be released.”

[24:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will be ashamed.”

[24:23]  ¹¹ tn Or “glow of the sun.”

[24:23]  ¹² tn Heb “will be ashamed” (so NCV).

[24:23]  ¹³ tn Or “take his throne,” “become king.”

[24:23]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[24:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and before his elders [in] splendor.”

[14:21]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:30]  ¹⁷ tn Or “in the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[2:31]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to blood,” but no doubt this is intended to indicate by metonymy the color of blood rather than the substance itself. The blood red color suggests a visual impression here – something that could be caused by fires, volcanic dust, sandstorms, or other atmospheric phenomena.

[14:4]  ¹⁹ sn This seismic activity provides a means of escape from Jerusalem so that the Messiah (the Lord), whose feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, may destroy the wicked nations in the Kidron Valley (the v. of Jehoshaphat, or of “judgment of the Lord”) without harming the inhabitants of the city.

[21:11]  ²⁰ sn See Isa 5:13-14; 13:6-16; Hag 2:6-7; Zech 14:4.

[21:11]  ²¹ tn This term, φόβητρον (fobhtron), occurs only here in the NT. It could refer to an object, event, or condition that causes fear, but in the context it is linked with great signs from heaven, so the translation “sights” was preferred.

[21:11]  ²² sn See Jer 4:13-22; 14:12; 21:6-7.

[21:25]  ²³ sn Signs in the sun and moon and stars are cosmic signs that turn our attention to the end and the Son of Man’s return for the righteous. OT imagery is present: See Isa 13:9-10; 24:18-20; 34:4; Ezek 32:7-8; Joel 2:1, 30-31; 3:15.

[21:25]  ²⁴ tn Grk “distress of nations.”

[21:25]  ²⁵ tn Or “in consternation” (L&N 32.9).

[21:26]  ²⁶ tn According to L&N 23.184 this could be mainly a psychological experience rather than actual loss of consciousness. It could also refer to complete discouragement because of fear, leading people to give up hope (L&N 25.293).

[21:26]  ²⁷ sn An allusion to Isa 34:4. The heavens were seen as the abode of heavenly forces, so their shaking indicates distress in the spiritual realm. Although some take the powers as a reference to bodies in the heavens (like stars and planets, “the heavenly bodies,” NIV) this is not as likely.

[2:19]  ²⁸ tn Or “in the heaven.” The Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven” depending on the context. Here, in contrast to “the earth below,” a reference to the sky is more likely.

[2:19]  ²⁹ tn Here the context indicates the miraculous nature of the signs mentioned; this is made explicit in the translation.

[11:28]  ³⁰ tn Grk “getting up, predicted.” The participle ἀναστάς (anasta") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[11:28]  ³¹ tn Or “made clear”; Grk “indicated beforehand” (BDAG 920 s.v. σημαίνω 2).

[11:28]  ³² tn Grk “great.”

[11:28]  ³³ sn This famine is one of the firmly fixed dates in Acts. It took place from a.d. 45-48. The events described in chap. 11 of Acts occurred during the early part of that period.

[11:28]  ³⁴ tn Or “whole Roman Empire.” While the word οἰκουμένη (oikoumenh) does occasionally refer specifically to the Roman Empire, BDAG 699 s.v. οἰκουνένη 2 does not list this passage (only Acts 24:5 and 17:6).

[11:28]  ³⁵ tn Grk “world, which.” The relative pronoun (“which”) was replaced by the demonstrative pronoun “this” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.

[11:28]  ³⁶ sn This is best taken as a parenthetical note by the author. Claudius was the Roman emperor Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, known as Claudius, who ruled from a.d. 41-54.