Psalms 11:6

11:6 May the Lord rain down ¹  burning coals ²  and brimstone ³  on the wicked!

A whirlwind is what they deserve! ⁴ 

Psalms 18:13-14

18:13 The Lord thundered ⁵  in ⁶  the sky;

the sovereign One ⁷  shouted. ⁸ 

18:14 He shot his ⁹  arrows and scattered them, ¹⁰ 

many lightning bolts ¹¹  and routed them. ¹² 

Psalms 21:9

21:9 You burn them up like a fiery furnace ¹³  when you appear; ¹⁴ 

the Lord angrily devours them; ¹⁵ 

the fire consumes them.

Psalms 120:4

120:4 Here’s how! ¹⁶  With the sharp arrows of warriors,

with arrowheads forged over the hot coals. ¹⁷ 

Genesis 19:24

19:24 Then the Lord rained down ¹⁸  sulfur and fire ¹⁹  on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. ²⁰ 

Exodus 9:23-24

9:23 When Moses extended ²¹  his staff toward the sky, the Lord ²²  sent thunder ²³  and hail, and fire fell to the earth; ²⁴  so the Lord caused hail to rain down on the land of Egypt. 9:24 Hail fell ²⁵  and fire mingled ²⁶  with the hail; the hail was so severe ²⁷  that there had not been any like it ²⁸  in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

Revelation 16:8-9

16:8 Then ²⁹  the fourth angel ³⁰  poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was permitted to scorch people ³¹  with fire. 16:9 Thus ³²  people ³³  were scorched by the terrible heat, ³⁴  yet ³⁵  they blasphemed the name of God, who has ruling authority ³⁶  over these plagues, and they would not repent and give him glory.

[11:6]  ¹ tn The verb form is a jussive, indicating that the statement is imprecatory (“May the Lord rain down”), not indicative (“The Lord rains down”; see also Job 20:23). The psalmist appeals to God to destroy the wicked, rather than simply stating his confidence that God will do so. In this way the psalmist seeks to activate divine judgment by appealing to God’s just character. For an example of the power of such a curse, see Judg 9:7-57.

[11:6]  ² tc The MT reads “traps, fire, and brimstone,” but the image of God raining traps, or snares, down from the sky is bizarre and does not fit the fire and storm imagery of this verse. The noun פַּחִים (pakhim, “traps, snares”) should be emended to פַּחֲמֵי (pakhamey, “coals of [fire]”). The rare noun פֶּחָם (pekham, “coal”) occurs in Prov 26:21 and Isa 44:12; 54:16.

[11:6]  ³ sn The image of God “raining down” brimstone on the objects of his judgment also appears in Gen 19:24 and Ezek 38:22.

[11:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “[may] a wind of rage [be] the portion of their cup.” The precise meaning of the rare noun זִלְעָפוֹת (zil’afot) is uncertain. It may mean “raging heat” (BDB 273 s.v. זַלְעָפָה) or simply “rage” (HALOT 272 s.v. זַלְעָפָה). If one understands the former sense, then one might translate “hot wind” (cf. NEB, NRSV). The present translation assumes the latter nuance, “a wind of rage” (the genitive is attributive) referring to a “whirlwind” symbolic of destructive judgment. In this mixed metaphor, judgment is also compared to an allotted portion of a beverage poured into one’s drinking cup (see Hab 2:15-16).

[18:13]  ⁵ sn Thunder is a common motif in OT theophanies and in ancient Near Eastern portrayals of the storm god and warring kings. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 179-83.

[18:13]  ⁶ tn 2 Sam 22:14 has “from.”

[18:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “the Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Ps 47:2.

[18:13]  ⁸ tc The text of Ps 18:13 adds at this point, “hail and coals of fire.” These words are probably accidentally added from v. 12b; they do not appear in 2 Sam 22:14.

[18:14]  ⁹ tn 2 Sam 22:15 omits the pronominal suffix (“his”).

[18:14]  ¹⁰ tn The pronominal suffixes on the verbs “scattered” and “routed” (see the next line) refer to the psalmist’s enemies. Some argue that the suffixes refer to the arrows, in which case one might translate “shot them far and wide” and “made them move noisily,” respectively. They argue that the enemies have not been mentioned since v. 4 and are not again mentioned until v. 17. However, usage of the verbs פוּץ (puts, “scatter”) and הָמַם (hamam, “rout”) elsewhere in Holy War accounts suggests the suffixes refer to enemies. Enemies are frequently pictured in such texts as scattered and/or routed (see Exod 14:24; 23:27; Num 10:35; Josh 10:10; Judg 4:15; 1 Sam 7:10; 11:11; Ps 68:1).

[18:14]  ¹¹ sn Lightning is a common motif in in OT theophanies and in ancient Near Eastern portrayals of the storm god and warring kings. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 190-92.

[18:14]  ¹² tn Heb “lightning bolts, many.” 2 Sam 22:15 has simply “lightning” (בָּרָק, baraq). The identity of the word רָב (rav) in Ps 18:14 is problematic. (1) It may be a form of a rare verb רָבַב (ravav, “to shoot”), perhaps attested in Gen 49:23 as well. In this case one might translate, “he shot lightning bolts and routed them.” Other options include (2) understanding רָב (rav) as an adverbial use of the adjective, “lightning bolts in abundance,” or (3) emending the form to רַבּוּ (rabbu), from רָבַב (ravav, “be many”) or to רָבוּ (ravu), from רָבָה (ravah, “be many”) – both a haplography of the vav (ו); note the initial vav on the immediately following form – and translating “lightning bolts were in abundance.”

[21:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “you make them like a furnace of fire.” Although many modern translations retain the literal Hebrew, the statement is elliptical. The point is not that he makes them like a furnace, but like an object burned in a furnace (cf. NEB, “at your coming you shall plunge them into a fiery furnace”).

[21:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “at the time of your face.” The “face” of the king here refers to his angry presence. See Lam 4:16.

[21:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the Lord, in his anger he swallows them, and fire devours them.” Some take “the Lord” as a vocative, in which case he is addressed in vv. 8-9a. But this makes the use of the third person in v. 9b rather awkward, though the king could be the subject (see vv. 1-7).

[120:4]  ¹⁶ tn The words “here’s how” are supplied in the translation as a clarification. In v. 4 the psalmist answers the question he raises in v. 3.

[120:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “with coals of the wood of the broom plant.” The wood of the broom plant was used to make charcoal, which in turn was used to fuel the fire used to forge the arrowheads.

[19:24]  ¹⁸ tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of the next scene and highlights God’s action.

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

[19:24]  ²⁰ tn Heb “from the Lord from the heavens.” The words “It was sent down” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[9:23]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ tn Heb “very heavy” or “very severe.” The subject “the hail” is implied.

[9:24]  ²⁸ 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.”

[16:8]  ²⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[16:8]  ³⁰ tn Grk “the fourth”; the referent (the fourth angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:8]  ³¹ tn Grk “men,” but this is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") and refers to both men and women.

[16:9]  ³² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “thus” to indicate the implied result of the bowl poured on the sun.

[16:9]  ³³ tn Grk “men,” but this is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") and refers to both men and women.

[16:9]  ³⁴ tn On this phrase BDAG 536 s.v. καῦμα states, “burning, heat Rv 7:16…καυματίζεσθαι κ. μέγα be burned with a scorching heat 16:9.”

[16:9]  ³⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[16:9]  ³⁶ tn For the translation “ruling authority” for ἐξουσία (exousia) see L&N 37.35.