Isaiah 27:8

27:8 When you summon her for divorce, you prosecute her; ¹ 

he drives her away ²  with his strong wind in the day of the east wind. ³ 

Jeremiah 49:36

49:36 I will cause enemies to blow through Elam from every direction

like the winds blowing in from the four quarters of heaven.

I will scatter the people of Elam to the four winds.

There will not be any nation where the refugees of Elam will not go. ⁴ 

Daniel 7:2

7:2 Daniel explained: ⁵  “I was watching in my vision during the night as ⁶  the four winds of the sky ⁷  were stirring up the great sea. ⁸ 

Daniel 8:8

8:8 The male goat acted even more arrogantly. But no sooner had the large horn become strong than it was broken, and there arose four conspicuous horns ⁹  in its place, ¹⁰  extending toward the four winds of the sky. ¹¹ 

Jonah 1:4

1:4 But ¹²  the Lord hurled ¹³  a powerful ¹⁴  wind on the sea. Such a violent ¹⁵  tempest arose on the sea that ¹⁶  the ship threatened to break up! ¹⁷ 

Matthew 8:26-27

8:26 But ¹⁸  he said to them, “Why are you cowardly, you people of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked ¹⁹  the winds and the sea, ²⁰  and it was dead calm. 8:27 And the men ²¹  were amazed and said, ²²  “What sort of person is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!” ²³ 

Matthew 24:31

24:31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven ²⁴  to the other.

[27:8]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “in [?], in sending her away, you oppose her.” The meaning of this line is uncertain. The form בְּסַאסְּאָה (bÿsa’ssÿ’ah) is taken as an infinitive from סַאסְּאָה (sa’ssÿ’ah) with a prepositional prefix and a third feminine singular suffix. (The MT does not have a mappiq in the final he [ה], however). According to HALOT 738 s.v. סַאסְּאָה the verb is a Palpel form from an otherwise unattested root cognate with an Arabic verb meaning “to gather beasts with a call.” Perhaps it means “to call, summon” here, but this is a very tentative proposal. בְּשַׁלְחָהּ (bÿshalkhah, “in sending her away”) appears to be a Piel infinitive with a prepositional prefix and a third feminine singular suffix. Since the Piel of שָׁלָח (shalakh) can sometimes mean “divorce” (HALOT 1514-15 s.v.) and the following verb רִיב (riv, “oppose”) can be used in legal contexts, it is possible that divorce proceedings are alluded to here. This may explain why Israel is referred to as feminine in this verse, in contrast to the masculine forms used in vv. 6-7 and 9.

[27:8]  ² tn The Hebrew text has no object expressed, but one can understand a third feminine singular pronominal object and place a mappiq in the final he (ה) of the form to indicate the suffix.

[27:8]  ³ sn The “east wind” here symbolizes violent divine judgment.

[49:36]  ⁴ tn Or more simply, “I will bring enemies against Elam from every direction. / And I will scatter the people of Elam to the four winds. // There won’t be any nation / where the refugees of Elam will not go.” Or more literally, “I will bring the four winds against Elam / from the four quarters of heaven. / I will scatter….” However, the winds are not to be understood literally here. God isn’t going to “blow the Elamites” out of Elam with natural forces. The winds must figuratively represent enemy forces that God will use to drive them out. Translating literally would be misleading at this point.

[7:2]  ⁵ tn Aram “answered and said.”

[7:2]  ⁶ tn Aram “and behold.”

[7:2]  ⁷ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[7:2]  ⁸ sn The referent of the great sea is unclear. The common view that the expression refers to the Mediterranean Sea is conjectural.

[8:8]  ⁹ tn The word “horns” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[8:8]  ¹⁰ sn The four conspicuous horns refer to Alexander’s successors. After his death, Alexander’s empire was divided up among four of his generals: Cassander, who took Macedonia and Greece; Lysimachus, who took Thrace and parts of Asia Minor; Seleucus, who took Syria and territory to its east; and Ptolemy, who took control of Egypt.

[8:8]  ¹¹ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[1:4]  ¹² tn The disjunctive construction of vav + nonverb followed by a nonpreterite marks a strong contrast in the narrative action (וַיהוָה הֵטִיל, vayhvah hetil; “But the Lord hurled…”).

[1:4]  ¹³ tn The Hiphil of טוּל (tul, “to hurl”) is used here and several times in this episode for rhetorical emphasis (see vv. 5 and 15).

[1:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “great.” Typically English versions vary the adjective here and before “tempest” to avoid redundancy: e.g., KJV, ASV, NRSV “great...mighty”; NAB “violent…furious”; NIV “great…violent”; NLT “powerful…violent.”

[1:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “great.”

[1:4]  ¹⁶ tn The nonconsecutive construction of vav + nonverb followed by nonpreterite is used to emphasize this result clause (וְהָאֳנִיָּה חִשְּׁבָה לְהִשָׁבֵר, vÿha’oniyyah khishvah lÿhishaver; “that the ship threatened to break up”).

[1:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the ship seriously considered breaking apart.” The use of חָשַׁב (khashav, “think”) in the Piel (“to think about; to seriously consider”) personifies the ship to emphasize the ferocity of the storm. The lexicons render the clause idiomatically: “the ship was about to be broken up” (BDB 363 s.v. חָשַׁב 2; HALOT 360 s.v. חשׁב).

[8:26]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[8:26]  ¹⁹ tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).

[8:26]  ²⁰ 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 winds and the sea he was making a statement about who he was.

[8:27]  ²¹ tn It is difficult to know whether ἄνθρωποι (anqrwpoi) should be translated as “men” or “people” (in a generic sense) here. At issue is whether (1) only the Twelve were with Jesus in the boat, as opposed to other disciples (cf. v. 23), and (2) whether any of those other disciples would have been women. The issue is complicated further by the parallel in Mark (4:35-41), where the author writes (4:36) that other boats accompanied them on this journey.

[8:27]  ²² tn Grk “the men were amazed, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) has been translated as a finite verb to make the sequence of events clear in English.

[8:27]  ²³ sn Jesus’ authority over creation raised a question for the disciples about his identity (What sort of person is this?). This verse shows that the disciples followed Jesus even though they did not know all about him yet.

[24:31]  ²⁴ tn Or “of the sky”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context.