Jeremiah 47:2

47:2 “Look! Enemies are gathering in the north like water rising in a river. ¹ 

They will be like an overflowing stream.

They will overwhelm the whole country and everything in it like a flood.

They will overwhelm the cities and their inhabitants.

People will cry out in alarm.

Everyone living in the country will cry out in pain.

Isaiah 8:7-8

8:7 So look, the sovereign master ²  is bringing up against them the turbulent and mighty waters of the Euphrates River ³  – the king of Assyria and all his majestic power. It will reach flood stage and overflow its banks. ⁴  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, ⁵  O Immanuel.” ⁶ 

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 11:22

11:22 Armies ¹¹  will be suddenly ¹²  swept away in defeat ¹³  before him; both they and a covenant leader ¹⁴  will be destroyed. ¹⁵ 

Amos 8:8

8:8 Because of this the earth ¹⁶  will quake, ¹⁷ 

and all who live in it will mourn.

The whole earth ¹⁸  will rise like the River Nile, ¹⁹ 

it will surge upward ²⁰  and then grow calm, ²¹  like the Nile in Egypt. ²² 

Revelation 12:15

12:15 Then ²³  the serpent spouted water like a river out of his mouth after the woman in an attempt to ²⁴  sweep her away by a flood,

[47:2]  ¹ tn Heb “Behold! Waters are rising from the north.” The metaphor of enemy armies compared to overflowing water is seen also in Isa 8:8-9 (Assyria) and 46:7-8 (Egypt). Here it refers to the foe from the north (Jer 1:14; 4:6; etc) which is specifically identified with Babylon in Jer 25. The metaphor has been turned into a simile in the translation to help the average reader identify that a figure is involved and to hint at the referent.

[8:7]  ² tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[8:7]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “it will go up over all its stream beds and go over all its banks.”

[8:8]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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].)

[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.

[11:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “arms.”

[11:22]  ¹² tc The present translation reads הִשָּׁטֹף (hishatof), Niphal infinitive absolute of שָׁטַף (shataf, “to overflow”), for the MT הַשֶּׁטֶף (hashetef, “flood”).

[11:22]  ¹³ tn The words “in defeat” are added in the translation for clarification.

[11:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a prince of the covenant.”

[11:22]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “broken” or “shattered.”

[8:8]  ¹⁶ tn Or “land” (also later in this verse).

[8:8]  ¹⁷ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all of it.”

[8:8]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Or “churn.”

[8:8]  ²¹ tn Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’), following the Qere.

[8:8]  ²² 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.

[12:15]  ²³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[12:15]  ²⁴ tn Grk “so that he might make her swept away.”