Job 26:10

26:10 He marks out the horizon ¹  on the surface of the waters

as a boundary between light and darkness.

Job 38:10-11

38:10 when I prescribed ²  its limits,

and set ³  in place its bolts and doors,

38:11 when I said, ‘To here you may come ⁴ 

and no farther, ⁵ 

here your proud waves will be confined’? ⁶ 

Psalms 33:7

33:7 He piles up the water of the sea; ⁷ 

he puts the oceans ⁸  in storehouses.

Psalms 93:3-4

93:3 The waves ⁹  roar, O Lord,

the waves roar,

the waves roar and crash. ¹⁰ 

93:4 Above the sound of the surging water, ¹¹ 

and the mighty waves of the sea,

the Lord sits enthroned in majesty. ¹² 

Psalms 104:9

104:9 You set up a boundary for them that they could not cross,

so that they would not cover the earth again. ¹³ 

Proverbs 8:29

8:29 when he gave the sea his decree

that the waters should not pass over his command, ¹⁴ 

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

Isaiah 50:2

50:2 Why does no one challenge me when I come?

Why does no one respond when I call? ¹⁵ 

Is my hand too weak ¹⁶  to deliver ¹⁷  you?

Do I lack the power to rescue you?

Look, with a mere shout ¹⁸  I can dry up the sea;

I can turn streams into a desert,

so the fish rot away and die

from lack of water. ¹⁹ 

Amos 9:6

9:6 He builds the upper rooms of his palace ²⁰  in heaven

and sets its foundation supports ²¹  on the earth. ²² 

He summons the water of the sea

and pours it out on the earth’s surface.

The Lord is his name.

Nahum 1:4

1:4 He shouts a battle cry ²³  against the sea ²⁴  and makes it dry up; ²⁵ 

he makes all the rivers ²⁶  run dry.

Bashan and Carmel wither; ²⁷ 

the blossom of Lebanon withers.

Mark 4:39

4:39 So ²⁸  he got up and rebuked ²⁹  the wind, and said to the sea, ³⁰  “Be quiet! Calm down!” Then ³¹  the wind stopped, and it was dead calm.

[26:10]  ¹ tn The expression חֹק־חָג (khoq-khag) means “he has drawn a limit as a circle.” According to some the form should have been חָק־חוּג (khaq-khug, “He has traced a circle”). But others argues that the text is acceptable as is, and can be interpreted as “a limit he has circled.” The Hebrew verbal roots are חָקַק (khaqaq, “to engrave; to sketch out; to trace”) and חוּג (khug, “describe a circle”) respectively.

[38:10]  ² 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]  ³ tn Dhorme suggested reversing the two verbs, making this the first, and then “shatter” for the second colon.

[38:11]  ⁴ tn The imperfect verb receives the permission nuance here.

[38:11]  ⁵ tn The text has תֹסִיף (tosif, “and you may not add”), which is often used idiomatically (as in verbal hendiadys constructions).

[38:11]  ⁶ 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.

[33:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “[he] gathers like a pile the waters of the sea.” Some prefer to emend נֵד (ged, “heap, pile”; cf. NASB) to נֹד (nod, “bottle”; cf. NRSV; NIV “into jars”), but “pile” is used elsewhere to describe water that the Lord confines to one place (Exod 15:8; Josh 3:13, 16; Ps 78:13). This verse appears to refer to Gen 1:9, where God decrees that the watery deep be gathered to one place so that dry land might appear. If so, the participles in this and the following line depict this action with special vividness, as if the reader were present on the occasion. Another option is that the participles picture the confinement of the sea to one place as an ongoing divine activity.

[33:7]  ⁸ tn Or “watery depths.” The form תְּהוֹמוֹת (tÿhomot, “watery depths”) is the plural form of תְּהוֹם (tÿhom, “great deep”; see Gen 1:2).

[93:3]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the waves lift up, O Lord, the waves lift up their voice, the waves lift up their crashing.”

[93:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “mighty waters.”

[93:4]  ¹² tn Heb “mighty on high [is] the Lord.”

[104:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “a boundary you set up, they will not cross, they will not return to cover the earth.”

[8:29]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “his mouth.”

[50:2]  ¹⁵ sn The present tense translation of the verbs assumes that the Lord is questioning why Israel does not attempt to counter his arguments. Another possibility is to take the verbs as referring to past events: “Why did no one meet me when I came? Why did no one answer when I called?” In this case the Lord might be asking why Israel rejected his calls to repent and his offer to deliver them.

[50:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “ransom” (NAB, NASB, NIV).

[50:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “with my rebuke.”

[50:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the fish stink from lack of water and die from thirst.”

[9:6]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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]  ²² sn Verse 6a pictures the entire universe as a divine palace founded on the earth and extending into the heavens.

[1:4]  ²³ tn The term גָּעַר (ga’ar) often denotes “reprimand” and “rebuke” (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). When it is used in the context of a military attack, it denotes an angry battle cry shouted by a mighty warrior to strike fear into his enemies to drive them away (e.g., 2 Sam 23:16; Isa 30:17; Pss 18:15; 76:6; 80:17; 104:7). For example, the parallel Ugaritic term is used when Baal utters a battle cry against Yamm before they fight to the death. For further study see, A. A. MacIntosh, “A Consideration of Hebrew g`r,” VT 14 (1969): 474; P. J. van Zijl, “A Consideration of the root ga’ar (“rebuke”),” OTWSA 12 (1969): 56-63; A. Caquot, TDOT 3:49-53.

[1:4]  ²⁴ sn The “sea” is personified as an antagonistic enemy, representing the wicked forces of chaos (Pss 66:6; 72:8; 80:12; 89:26; 93:3-4; Isa 50:2; Mic 7:12; Hab 3:8; Zech 9:10).

[1:4]  ²⁵ tn This somewhat unusual use of the preterite (וַיַּבְּשֵׁהוּ, vayyabbÿshehu) follows a participle which depicts characteristic (present-time) action or imminent future action; the preterite depicts the subsequent present or future-time action (see IBHS 561-62 §33.3.5).

[1:4]  ²⁶ sn The Assyrians waged war every spring after the Tigris and Euphrates rivers dried up, allowing them to cross. As the Mighty Warrior par excellence, the Lord is able to part the rivers to attack Assyria.

[1:4]  ²⁷ tn The term אֻמְלַל (’umlal, “withers”) occurs twice in this verse in MT. The repetition of אֻמְלַל is also supported by the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpNah). The BHS editors suggest emending the first occurrence of אֻמְלַל (“withers”) to דָּלְלוּ (dollu, “languishes”) to recover the letter ד (dalet) in the partial acrostic. Several versions do, in fact, employ two different verbs in the line (LXX, Syr, Targum, and Vg). However, the first verb at the beginning of the line in all of the versions reflects a reading of אֻמְלַל. Although several elements of an acrostic are present in Nahum 1, the acrostic is incomplete (only א [alef] to כ [kaf] in vv. 2-8) and broken (several elements are missing within vv. 2-8). There is no textual evidence for a complete, unbroken acrostic throughout the book of Nahum in any ancient Hebrew mss or other textual versions; it is most prudent simply to leave the MT as it stands.

[4:39]  ²⁸ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

[4:39]  ²⁹ tn Or “commanded” (often with the implication of a threat, L&N 33.331).

[4:39]  ³⁰ 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 wind and the sea he was making a statement about who he was.

[4:39]  ³¹ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.