Psalms 104:2

104:2 He covers himself with light as if it were a garment.

He stretches out the skies like a tent curtain,

Habakkuk 3:4

3:4 He is as bright as lightning; ¹ 

a two-pronged lightning bolt flashes from his hand. ² 

This is the outward display of his power. ³ 

Habakkuk 3:1

Habakkuk’s Vision of the Divine Warrior

3:1 This is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet: ⁴ 

Habakkuk 1:5

The Lord Reveals Some Startling News

1:5 “Look at the nations and pay attention! ⁵ 

You will be shocked and amazed! ⁶ 

For I will do something in your lifetime ⁷ 

that you will not believe even though you are forewarned. ⁸ 

Revelation 1:16-17

1:16 He held ⁹  seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His ¹⁰  face shone like the sun shining at full strength. 1:17 When ¹¹  I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but ¹²  he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last,

Revelation 21:3

21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence ¹³  of God is among human beings. ¹⁴  He ¹⁵  will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. ¹⁶ 

Revelation 22:5

22:5 Night will be no more, and they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever.

[3:4]  ¹ tn Heb “[His] radiance is like light.” Some see a reference to sunlight, but the Hebrew word אוֹר (’or) here refers to lightning, as the context indicates (see vv. 4b, 9, 11). The word also refers to lightning in Job 36:32 and 37:3, 11, 15.

[3:4]  ² tn Heb “two horns from his hand to him.” Sharp, pointed lightning bolts have a “horn-like” appearance. The weapon of “double lightning” appears often in Mesopotamian representations of gods. See Elizabeth Van Buren, Symbols of the Gods in Mesopotamian Art (AnOr), 70-73.

[3:4]  ³ tn Heb “and there [is] the covering of his strength”; or “and there is his strong covering.” The meaning of this line is unclear. The point may be that the lightning bolts are merely a covering, or outward display, of God’s raw power. In Job 36:32 one reads that God “covers his hands with light [or, “lightning”].”

[3:1]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text adds עַל שִׁגְיֹנוֹת (’al shigyonot, “upon [or, “according to”] shigyonot”). The meaning of this word is uncertain. It may refer to the literary genre of the prayer or to the musical style to be employed when it is sung. The NEB leaves the term untranslated; several other modern English versions transliterate the term into English, sometimes with explanatory notes (NASB, NRSV “according to Shigionoth”; NIV “On shigyonoth”).

[1:5]  ⁵ tn Or “look among the nations and observe.” The imperatival forms in v. 5 are plural, indicating that the Lord’s message is for the whole nation, not just the prophet.

[1:5]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text combines the Hitpael and Qal imperatival forms of the verb תָּמַה (tamah, “be amazed”). A literal translation might read, “Shock yourselves and be shocked!” The repetition of sounds draws attention to the statement. The imperatives here have the force of an emphatic assertion. On this use of the imperative in Hebrew, see GKC 324 §110.c and IBHS 572-73 §34.4c.

[1:5]  ⁷ tc Heb “for a work working in your days.” Following the LXX reading, some supply a first person singular pronoun with the participle פֹּעֵל (po’el). Ellipsis of a first singular pronoun before participles is relatively rare (see GKC 360 §116.s); perhaps an original אֲנֹכִי (’anoki; or אֲנִי, ’aniy) followed the initial כִּי (ki) and was omitted by homoioteleuton.

[1:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “you will not believe when it is told.” In this context the force of כִּי (ki) may be “when,” “if,” or “even though.”

[1:16]  ⁹ tn Grk “and having.” In the Greek text this is a continuation of the previous sentence, but because contemporary English style employs much shorter sentences, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronoun “he.”

[1:16]  ¹⁰ tn This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:17]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And when.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[1:17]  ¹² tn Here the Greek conjunction καί (kai) has been translated as a contrastive (“but”) due to the contrast between the two clauses.

[21:3]  ¹³ tn Or “dwelling place”; traditionally, “tabernacle”; literally “tent.”

[21:3]  ¹⁴ tn Or “people”; Grk “men” (ἀνθρώπων, anqrwpwn), a generic use of the term. In the translation “human beings” was used here because “people” occurs later in the verse and translates a different Greek word (λαοί, laoi).

[21:3]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “men, and he.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[21:3]  ¹⁶ tc ‡ Most mss (א Ï^K) do not add the words “[as] their God” (αὐτῶν θεός, autwn qeos) after “he will be with them.” The mss with these words include A 2030 2050 2329 al. The Andreas group (Ï^A) also has the words, but in a different arrangement with the preceding (ἔσται μετ᾿ αὐτῶν θεὸς αὐτῶν, estai met’ autwn qeo" autwn). Not only do the words float, but scribes may have been motivated to make a connection here more directly with Isa 7:14; 8:8; Jer 24:7; 31:33; Zech 8:8. In light of sufficient external evidence as well as the possibility that the longer reading is theologically motivated, the shorter reading is preferred. NA²⁷ places the words in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity.