Isaiah 8:7-8

8:7 So look, the sovereign master ¹  is bringing up against them the turbulent and mighty waters of the Euphrates River ²  – the king of Assyria and all his majestic power. It will reach flood stage and overflow its banks. ³  8:8 It will spill into Judah, flooding and engulfing, as it reaches to the necks of its victims. He will spread his wings out over your entire land, ⁴  O Immanuel.” ⁵ 

Isaiah 28:17

28:17 I will make justice the measuring line,

fairness the plumb line;

hail will sweep away the unreliable refuge, ⁶ 

the floodwaters will overwhelm the hiding place.

Ezekiel 13:13

13:13 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: In my rage I will make a violent wind break out. In my anger there will be a deluge of rain and hailstones in destructive fury.

Daniel 9:26

9:26 Now after the sixty-two weeks,

an anointed one will be cut off and have nothing. ⁷ 

As for the city and the sanctuary,

the people of the coming prince will destroy ⁸  them.

But his end will come speedily ⁹  like a flood. ¹⁰ 

Until the end of the war that has been decreed

there will be destruction.

Daniel 11:10

11:10 His sons ¹¹  will wage war, mustering a large army which will advance like an overflowing river and carrying the battle all the way to the enemy’s ¹²  fortress. ¹³ 

Daniel 11:22

11:22 Armies ¹⁴  will be suddenly ¹⁵  swept away in defeat ¹⁶  before him; both they and a covenant leader ¹⁷  will be destroyed. ¹⁸ 

Daniel 11:40

11:40 “At the time of the end the king of the south will attack ¹⁹  him. Then the king of the north will storm against him ²⁰  with chariots, horsemen, and a large armada of ships. ²¹  He ²²  will invade lands, passing through them like an overflowing river. ²³ 

Amos 8:8

8:8 Because of this the earth ²⁴  will quake, ²⁵ 

and all who live in it will mourn.

The whole earth ²⁶  will rise like the River Nile, ²⁷ 

it will surge upward ²⁸  and then grow calm, ²⁹  like the Nile in Egypt. ³⁰ 

Amos 9:5-6

9:5 The sovereign Lord who commands armies will do this. ³¹ 

He touches the earth and it dissolves; ³² 

all who live on it mourn.

The whole earth ³³  rises like the River Nile, ³⁴ 

and then grows calm ³⁵  like the Nile in Egypt. ³⁶ 

9:6 He builds the upper rooms of his palace ³⁷  in heaven

and sets its foundation supports ³⁸  on the earth. ³⁹ 

He summons the water of the sea

and pours it out on the earth’s surface.

The Lord is his name.

Matthew 7:27

7:27 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed; it was utterly destroyed!” ⁴⁰ 

Matthew 7:2

7:2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive. ⁴¹ 

Matthew 3:6-7

3:6 and he was baptizing them ⁴²  in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees ⁴³  and Sadducees ⁴⁴  coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

[8:7]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[8:7]  ² tn Heb “the mighty and abundant waters of the river.” The referent of “the river” here, the Euphrates River, has been specified in the translation for clarity. As the immediately following words indicate, these waters symbolize the Assyrian king and his armies which will, as it were, inundate the land.

[8:7]  ³ tn Heb “it will go up over all its stream beds and go over all its banks.”

[8:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the spreading out of his wings [will be over] the fullness of the breadth of your land.” The metaphor changes here from raging flood to predatory bird.

[8:8]  ⁵ sn The appearance of the name Immanuel (“God is with us”) is ironic at this point, for God is present with his people in judgment. Immanuel is addressed here as if he has already been born and will see the judgment occur. This makes excellent sense if his birth has just been recorded. There are several reasons for considering Immanuel and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz one and the same. 8:3 is a birth account which could easily be understood as recording the fulfillment of the birth prophecy of 7:14. The presence of a formal record/witnesses (8:1-2) suggests a sign function for the child (cf. 7:14). As in 7:14-16, the removal of Judah’s enemies would take place before the child reached a specified age (cf. 8:4). Both 7:17-25 and 8:7-8 speak of an Assyrian invasion of Judah which would follow the defeat of Israel/Syria. The major objection to this view is the fact that different names appear, but such a phenomenon is not without parallel in the OT (cf. Gen 35:18). The name Immanuel may emphasize the basic fact of God’s presence, while the name Maher focuses on the specific nature of God’s involvement. In 7:14 the mother is viewed as naming the child, while in 8:3 Isaiah is instructed to give the child’s name, but one might again point to Gen 35:18 for a precedent. The sign child’s age appears to be different in 8:4 than in 7:15-16, but 7:15-16 pertains to the judgment on Judah, as well as the defeat of Israel/Syria (cf. vv. 17-25), while 8:4 deals only with the downfall of Israel/Syria. Some argue that the suffixed form “your land” in 8:8 points to a royal referent (a child of Ahaz or the Messiah), but usage elsewhere shows that the phrase does not need to be so restricted. While the suffix can refer to the king of a land (cf. Num 20:17; 21:22; Deut 2:27; Judg 11:17, 19; 2 Sam 24:13; 1 Kgs 11:22; Isa 14:20), it can also refer to one who is a native of a particular land (cf. Gen 12:1; 32:9; Jonah 1:8). (See also the use of “his land” in Isa 13:14 [where the suffix refers to a native of a land] and 37:7 [where it refers to a king].)

[28:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “[the] refuge, [the] lie.” See v. 15.

[9:26]  ⁷ sn The expression have nothing is difficult. Presumably it refers to an absence of support or assistance for the anointed one at the time of his “cutting off.” The KJV rendering “but not for himself,” apparently suggesting a vicarious death, cannot be defended.

[9:26]  ⁸ tc Some witnesses (e.g., the Syriac) understand a passive verb and the preposition עִם (’im, “with) rather than the noun עַם (’am, “people”), thus reading “the city and the sanctuary will be destroyed with the coming prince.”

[9:26]  ⁹ tn The words “will come speedily” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

[9:26]  ¹⁰ sn Flood here is a metaphor for sudden destruction.

[11:10]  ¹¹ sn The sons of Seleucus II Callinicus were Seleucus III Ceraunus (ca. 227-223 B.C.) and Antiochus III the Great (ca. 223-187 B.C.).

[11:10]  ¹² tn Heb “his”; the referent (the enemy of the king of the north) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he will certainly come and overflow and cross over and return and be aroused unto a fortress.” The translation has attempted to simplify the syntax of this difficult sequence.

[11:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “arms.”

[11:22]  ¹⁵ tc The present translation reads הִשָּׁטֹף (hishatof), Niphal infinitive absolute of שָׁטַף (shataf, “to overflow”), for the MT הַשֶּׁטֶף (hashetef, “flood”).

[11:22]  ¹⁶ tn The words “in defeat” are added in the translation for clarification.

[11:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a prince of the covenant.”

[11:22]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “broken” or “shattered.”

[11:40]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “engage in thrusting.”

[11:40]  ²⁰ tn The referent of the pronoun is most likely the king of the south, in which case the text describes the king of the north countering the attack of the king of the south.

[11:40]  ²¹ tn Heb “many ships.”

[11:40]  ²² tn This most likely refers to the king of the north who, in response to the aggression of the king of the south, launches an invasion of the southern regions.

[11:40]  ²³ tn Heb “and will overflow and pass over.”

[8:8]  ²⁴ tn Or “land” (also later in this verse).

[8:8]  ²⁵ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “all of it.”

[8:8]  ²⁷ tc The MT reads “like the light” (כָאֹר, kha’or; note this term also appears in v. 9), which is commonly understood to be an error for “like the Nile” (כִּיאוֹר, ki’or). See the parallel line and Amos 9:5. The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity. If this emendation is correct, in the Hebrew of Amos “Nile” is actually spelled three slightly different ways.

[8:8]  ²⁸ tn Or “churn.”

[8:8]  ²⁹ tn Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’), following the Qere.

[8:8]  ³⁰ tn The entire verse is phrased in a series of rhetorical questions which anticipate the answer, “Of course!” (For example, the first line reads, “Because of this will the earth not quake?”). The rhetorical questions entrap the listener in the logic of the judgment of God (cf. 3:3-6; 9:7). The rhetorical questions have been converted to affirmative statements in the translation for clarity.

[9:5]  ³¹ tn The words “will do this” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:5]  ³² tn Or “melts.” The verb probably depicts earthquakes and landslides. See v. 5b.

[9:5]  ³³ tn Heb “all of it.”

[9:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the Nile.” The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:5]  ³⁵ tn Or “sinks back down.”

[9:5]  ³⁶ sn See Amos 8:8, which is very similar to this verse.

[9:6]  ³⁷ tc The MT reads “his steps.” If this is correct, then the reference may be to the steps leading up to the heavenly temple or the throne of God (cf. 1 Kgs 10:19-20). The prefixed מ (mem) may be dittographic (note the preceding word ends in mem). The translation assumes an emendation to עֲלִיָּתוֹ (’aliyyato, “his upper rooms”).

[9:6]  ³⁸ tn Traditionally, “vault” (so ASV, NAB, NRSV). The precise meaning of this word in this context is unclear. Elsewhere it refers to objects grouped or held together. F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman (Amos [AB], 845-46) suggest the foundational structure of a building is in view.

[9:6]  ³⁹ sn Verse 6a pictures the entire universe as a divine palace founded on the earth and extending into the heavens.

[7:27]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “and great was its fall.”

[7:2]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “by [the measure] with which you measure it will be measured to you.”

[3:6]  ⁴² tn Grk “they were being baptized by him.” The passive construction has been rendered as active in the translation for the sake of English style.

[3:7]  ⁴³ sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.

[3:7]  ⁴⁴ sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). See also Matt 16:1-12; 22:23-34; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; Acts 5:17; 23:6-8.