Job 37:13

37:13 Whether it is for punishment ¹  for his land,

or whether it is for mercy,

he causes it to find its mark. ² 

Job 38:22-23

38:22 Have you entered the storehouse ³  of the snow,

or seen the armory ⁴  of the hail,

38:23 which I reserve for the time of trouble,

for the day of war and battle? ⁵ 

Genesis 6:17

6:17 I am about to bring ⁶  floodwaters ⁷  on the earth to destroy ⁸  from under the sky all the living creatures that have the breath of life in them. ⁹  Everything that is on the earth will die,

Genesis 7:17-24

7:17 The flood engulfed the earth for forty days. As the waters increased, they lifted the ark and raised it above the earth. 7:18 The waters completely overwhelmed ¹⁰  the earth, and the ark floated ¹¹  on the surface of the waters. 7:19 The waters completely inundated ¹²  the earth so that even ¹³  all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered. 7:20 The waters rose more than twenty feet ¹⁴  above the mountains. ¹⁵  7:21 And all living things ¹⁶  that moved on the earth died, including the birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all humankind. 7:22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life ¹⁷  in its nostrils died. 7:23 So the Lord ¹⁸  destroyed ¹⁹  every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. ²⁰  They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived. ²¹  7:24 The waters prevailed over ²²  the earth for 150 days.

Genesis 19:24

19:24 Then the Lord rained down ²³  sulfur and fire ²⁴  on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. ²⁵ 

Exodus 9:23-25

9:23 When Moses extended ²⁶  his staff toward the sky, the Lord ²⁷  sent thunder ²⁸  and hail, and fire fell to the earth; ²⁹  so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt. 9:24 Hail fell ³⁰  and fire mingled ³¹  with the hail; the hail was so severe ³²  that there had not been any like it ³³  in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. 9:25 The hail struck everything in the open fields, both ³⁴  people and animals, throughout all the land of Egypt. The hail struck everything that grows ³⁵  in the field, and it broke all the trees of the field to pieces.

Deuteronomy 8:2

8:2 Remember the whole way by which he ³⁶  has brought you these forty years through the desert ³⁷  so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not.

Deuteronomy 8:15

8:15 and who brought you through the great, fearful desert of venomous serpents ³⁸  and scorpions, an arid place with no water. He made water flow ³⁹  from a flint rock and

Joshua 10:11

10:11 As they fled from Israel on the slope leading down from ⁴⁰  Beth Horon, the Lord threw down on them large hailstones from the sky, ⁴¹  all the way to Azekah. They died – in fact, more died from the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword.

Joshua 10:1

Israel Defeats an Amorite Coalition

10:1 Adoni-Zedek, king of Jerusalem, ⁴²  heard how Joshua captured Ai and annihilated it and its king as he did Jericho ⁴³  and its king. ⁴⁴  He also heard how ⁴⁵  the people of Gibeon made peace with Israel and lived among them.

Joshua 2:10

2:10 For we heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you left Egypt and how you annihilated the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, on the other side of the Jordan. ⁴⁶ 

Joshua 7:10

7:10 The Lord responded ⁴⁷  to Joshua, “Get up! Why are you lying there face down? ⁴⁸ 

Joshua 12:18

12:18 the king of Aphek (one),

the king of Lasharon (one),

[37:13]  ¹ tn Heb “rod,” i.e., a rod used for punishment.

[37:13]  ² tn This is interpretive; Heb “he makes find it.” The lightning could be what is intended here, for it finds its mark. But R. Gordis (Job, 429) suggests man is the subject – let him find what it is for, i.e., the fate appropriate for him.

[38:22]  ³ sn Snow and ice are thought of as being in store, brought out by God for specific purposes, such as times of battle (see Josh 10:11; Exod 9:2ff.; Isa 28:17; Isa 30:30; and Ps 18:12 [13]).

[38:22]  ⁴ tn The same Hebrew term (אוֹצָר, ’otsar), has been translated “storehouse” in the first line and “armory” in the second. This has been done for stylistic variation, but also because “hail,” as one of God’s “weapons” (cf. the following verse) suggests military imagery; in this context the word refers to God’s “ammunition dump” where he stockpiles hail.

[38:23]  ⁵ sn The terms translated war and battle are different Hebrew words, but both may be translated “war” or “battle” depending on the context.

[6:17]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew construction uses the independent personal pronoun, followed by a suffixed form of הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) and the a participle used with an imminent future nuance: “As for me, look, I am going to bring.”

[6:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “the flood, water.”

[6:17]  ⁸ tn The verb שָׁחָת (shakhat, “to destroy”) is repeated yet again, only now in an infinitival form expressing the purpose of the flood.

[6:17]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew construction here is different from the previous two; here it is רוּחַ חַיִּים (ruakh khayyim) rather than נֶפֶשׁ הַיָּה (nefesh khayyah) or נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים (nishmat khayyim). It refers to everything that breathes.

[7:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the waters were great and multiplied exceedingly.” The first verb in the sequence is וַיִּגְבְּרוּ (vayyigbÿru, from גָּבַר, gavar), meaning “to become great, mighty.” The waters did not merely rise; they “prevailed” over the earth, overwhelming it.

[7:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “went.”

[7:19]  ¹² tn Heb “and the waters were great exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition emphasizes the depth of the waters.

[7:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “and.”

[7:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “rose fifteen cubits.” Since a cubit is considered by most authorities to be about eighteen inches, this would make the depth 22.5 feet. This figure might give the modern reader a false impression of exactness, however, so in the translation the phrase “fifteen cubits” has been rendered “more than twenty feet.”

[7:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward and they covered the mountains.” Obviously, a flood of twenty feet did not cover the mountains; the statement must mean the flood rose about twenty feet above the highest mountain.

[7:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “flesh.”

[7:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “everything which [has] the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils from all which is in the dry land.”

[7:23]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:23]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “wiped away” (cf. NRSV “blotted out”).

[7:23]  ²⁰ tn Heb “from man to animal to creeping thing and to the bird of the sky.”

[7:23]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁאָר (sha’ar) means “to be left over; to survive” in the Niphal verb stem. It is the word used in later biblical texts for the remnant that escapes judgment. See G. F. Hasel, “Semantic Values of Derivatives of the Hebrew Root só’r,” AUSS 11 (1973): 152-69.

[7:24]  ²² sn The Hebrew verb translated “prevailed over” suggests that the waters were stronger than the earth. The earth and everything in it were no match for the return of the chaotic deep.

[19:24]  ²³ tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of the next scene and highlights God’s action.

[19:24]  ²⁴ tn Or “burning sulfur” (the traditional “fire and brimstone”).

[19:24]  ²⁵ tn Heb “from the Lord from the heavens.” The words “It was sent down” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[9:23]  ²⁶ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated to the next clause in view of the emphasis put on the subject, Yahweh, by the disjunctive word order of that clause.

[9:23]  ²⁷ tn By starting the clause with the subject (an example of disjunctive word order) the text is certainly stressing that Yahweh alone did this.

[9:23]  ²⁸ tn The expression נָתַן קֹלֹת (natan qolot) literally means “gave voices” (also “voice”). This is a poetic expression for sending the thunder. Ps 29:3 talks about the “voice of Yahweh” – the God of glory thunders!

[9:23]  ²⁹ sn This clause has been variously interpreted. Lightning would ordinarily accompany thunder; in this case the mention of fire could indicate that the lightning was beyond normal and that it was striking in such a way as to start fires on the ground. It could also mean that fire went along the ground from the pounding hail.

[9:24]  ³⁰ tn The verb is the common preterite וַיְהִי (vayÿhi), which is normally translated “and there was” if it is translated at all. The verb הָיָה (hayah), however, can mean “be, become, befall, fall, fall out, happen.” Here it could be simply translated “there was hail,” but the active “hail fell” fits the point of the sequence better.

[9:24]  ³¹ tn The form מִתְלַקַּחַת (mitlaqqakhat) is a Hitpael participle; the clause reads, “and fire taking hold of itself in the midst of the hail.” This probably refers to lightning flashing back and forth. See also Ezek 1:4. God created a great storm with flashing fire connected to it.

[9:24]  ³² tn Heb “very heavy” or “very severe.” The subject “the hail” is implied.

[9:24]  ³³ tn A literal reading of the clause would be “which there was not like it in all the land of Egypt.” The relative pronoun must be joined to the resumptive pronoun: “which like it (like which) there had not been.”

[9:25]  ³⁴ tn The exact expression is “from man even to beast.” R. J. Williams lists this as an example of the inclusive use of the preposition מִן (min) to be rendered “both…and” (Hebrew Syntax, 57, §327).

[9:25]  ³⁵ tn Heb “all the cultivated grain of.”

[8:2]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:2]  ³⁷ tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NRSV, NLT); likewise in v. 15.

[8:15]  ³⁸ tn Heb “flaming serpents”; KJV, NASB “fiery serpents”; NAB “saraph serpents.” This figure of speech (metonymy) probably describes the venomous and painful results of snakebite. The feeling from such an experience would be like a burning fire (שָׂרָף, saraf).

[8:15]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the one who brought out for you water.” In the Hebrew text this continues the preceding sentence, but the translation begins a new sentence here for stylistic reasons.

[10:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “on the descent of.”

[10:11]  ⁴¹ tn Or “heaven” (also in v. 13). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[10:1]  ⁴² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[10:1]  ⁴³ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[10:1]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “as he had done to Jericho and to its king, so he did to Ai and to its king.”

[10:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and how.”

[2:10]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and what you did to the two Amorite kings who were beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, how you annihilated them.”

[7:10]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “said.”

[7:10]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “Why are you falling on your face?”