Jeremiah 5:22

5:22 “You should fear me!” says the Lord.

“You should tremble in awe before me! ¹ 

I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea,

a permanent barrier that it can never cross.

Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail.

They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary.” ² 

Job 38:10-11

38:10 when I prescribed ³  its limits,

and set ⁴  in place its bolts and doors,

38:11 when I said, ‘To here you may come ⁵ 

and no farther, ⁶ 

here your proud waves will be confined’? ⁷ 

Psalms 93:3-4

93:3 The waves ⁸  roar, O Lord,

the waves roar,

the waves roar and crash. ⁹ 

93:4 Above the sound of the surging water, ¹⁰ 

and the mighty waves of the sea,

the Lord sits enthroned in majesty. ¹¹ 

Psalms 107:25-29

107:25 He gave the order for a windstorm, ¹² 

and it stirred up the waves of the sea. ¹³ 

107:26 They ¹⁴  reached up to the sky,

then dropped into the depths.

The sailors’ strength ¹⁵  left them ¹⁶  because the danger was so great. ¹⁷ 

107:27 They swayed ¹⁸  and staggered like a drunk,

and all their skill proved ineffective. ¹⁹ 

107:28 They cried out to the Lord in their distress;

he delivered them from their troubles.

107:29 He calmed the storm, ²⁰ 

and the waves ²¹  grew silent.

Isaiah 51:15

51:15 I am the Lord your God,

who churns up the sea so that its waves surge.

The Lord who commands armies is his name!

Matthew 8:25-26

8:25 So they came ²²  and woke him up saying, “Lord, save us! We are about to die!” 8:26 But ²³  he said to them, “Why are you cowardly, you people of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked ²⁴  the winds and the sea, ²⁵  and it was dead calm.

[5:22]  ¹ tn Heb “Should you not fear me? Should you not tremble in awe before me?” The rhetorical questions expect the answer explicit in the translation.

[5:22]  ² tn Heb “it.” The referent is made explicit to avoid any possible confusion.

[38:10]  ³ tc The MT has “and I broke,” which cannot mean “set, prescribed” or the like. The LXX and the Vulgate have such a meaning, suggesting a verb עֲשִׁית (’ashiyt, “plan, prescribe”). A. Guillaume finds an Arabic word with a meaning “measured it by span by my decree.” Would God give himself a decree? R. Gordis simply argues that the basic meaning “break” develops the connotation of “decide, determine” (2 Sam 5:24; Job 14:3; Dan 11:36).

[38:10]  ⁴ tn Dhorme suggested reversing the two verbs, making this the first, and then “shatter” for the second colon.

[38:11]  ⁵ tn The imperfect verb receives the permission nuance here.

[38:11]  ⁶ tn The text has תֹסִיף (tosif, “and you may not add”), which is often used idiomatically (as in verbal hendiadys constructions).

[38:11]  ⁷ tn The MT literally says, “here he will put on the pride of your waves.” The verb has no expressed subject and so is made a passive voice. But there has to be some object for the verb “put,” such as “limit” or “boundary”; the translations “confined; halted; stopped” all serve to paraphrase such an idea. The LXX has “broken” at this point, suggesting the verse might have been confused – but “breaking the pride” of the waves would mean controlling them. Some commentators have followed this, exchanging the verb in v. 11 with this one.

[93:3]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew noun translated “waves” often refers to rivers or streams, but here it appears to refer to the surging waves of the sea (see v. 4, Ps 24:2).

[93:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “the waves lift up, O Lord, the waves lift up their voice, the waves lift up their crashing.”

[93:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “mighty waters.”

[93:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “mighty on high [is] the Lord.”

[107:25]  ¹² tn Heb “he spoke and caused to stand a stormy wind.”

[107:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “and it stirred up its [i.e., the sea’s, see v. 23] waves.”

[107:26]  ¹⁴ tn That is, the waves (see v. 25).

[107:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “their being”; traditionally “their soul” (referring to that of the sailors). This is sometimes translated “courage” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[107:26]  ¹⁶ tn Or “melted.”

[107:26]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “from danger.”

[107:27]  ¹⁸ tn Only here does the Hebrew verb חָגַג (khagag; normally meaning “to celebrate”) carry the nuance “to sway.”

[107:27]  ¹⁹ tn The Hitpael of בָלַע (vala’) occurs only here in the OT. Traditionally the form is derived from the verbal root בלע (“to swallow”), but HALOT 135 s.v. III בלע understands a homonym here with the meaning “to be confused.”

[107:29]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he raised [the] storm to calm.”

[107:29]  ²¹ tn Heb “their waves.” The antecedent of the third masculine plural pronominal suffix is not readily apparent, unless it refers back to “waters” in v. 23.

[8:25]  ²² tn The participle προσελθόντες (proselqonte") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[8:26]  ²³ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[8:26]  ²⁴ tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).

[8:26]  ²⁵ 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.