Psalms 148:8

148:8 O fire and hail, snow and clouds, ¹ 

O stormy wind that carries out his orders, ² 

Genesis 2:5-6

2:5 Now ³  no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field ⁴  had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. ⁵  2:6 Springs ⁶  would well up ⁷  from the earth and water ⁸  the whole surface of the ground. ⁹ 

Genesis 2:1

2:1 The heavens and the earth ¹⁰  were completed with everything that was in them. ¹¹ 

Genesis 18:1

Three Special Visitors

18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham ¹²  by the oaks ¹³  of Mamre while ¹⁴  he was sitting at the entrance ¹⁵  to his tent during the hottest time of the day.

Genesis 18:1

Three Special Visitors

18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham ¹⁶  by the oaks ¹⁷  of Mamre while ¹⁸  he was sitting at the entrance ¹⁹  to his tent during the hottest time of the day.

Job 5:10

5:10 he gives ²⁰  rain on the earth, ²¹ 

and sends ²²  water on the fields; ²³ 

Jeremiah 10:13

10:13 When his voice thunders, ²⁴  the heavenly ocean roars.

He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons. ²⁵ 

He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain.

He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it. ²⁶ 

Jeremiah 14:22

14:22 Do any of the worthless idols ²⁷  of the nations cause rain to fall?

Do the skies themselves send showers?

Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this? ²⁸ 

So we put our hopes in you ²⁹ 

because you alone do all this.”

Jeremiah 51:16

51:16 When his voice thunders, the waters in the heavens roar.

He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons.

He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain.

He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it.

Zechariah 10:1

The Restoration of the True People

10:1 Ask the Lord for rain in the season of the late spring rains ³⁰  – the Lord who causes thunderstorms – and he will give everyone showers of rain and green growth in the field.

[148:8]  ¹ tn In Ps 119:83 the noun refers to “smoke,” but here, where the elements of nature are addressed, the clouds, which resemble smoke, are probably in view.

[148:8]  ² tn Heb “[that] does his word.”

[2:5]  ³ tn Heb “Now every sprig of the field before it was.” The verb forms, although appearing to be imperfects, are technically preterites coming after the adverb טֶּרֶם (terem). The word order (conjunction + subject + predicate) indicates a disjunctive clause, which provides background information for the following narrative (as in 1:2). Two negative clauses are given (“before any sprig…”, and “before any cultivated grain” existed), followed by two causal clauses explaining them, and then a positive circumstantial clause is given – again dealing with water as in 1:2 (water would well up).

[2:5]  ⁴ tn The first term, שִׂיחַ (siakh), probably refers to the wild, uncultivated plants (see Gen 21:15; Job 30:4,7); whereas the second, עֵשֶׂב (’esev), refers to cultivated grains. It is a way of saying: “back before anything was growing.”

[2:5]  ⁵ tn The two causal clauses explain the first two disjunctive clauses: There was no uncultivated, general growth because there was no rain, and there were no grains because there was no man to cultivate the soil.

[2:6]  ⁶ tn The conjunction vav (ו) introduces a third disjunctive clause. The Hebrew word אֵד (’ed) was traditionally translated “mist” because of its use in Job 36:27. However, an Akkadian cognate edu in Babylonian texts refers to subterranean springs or waterways. Such a spring would fit the description in this context, since this water “goes up” and waters the ground.

[2:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “was going up.” The verb is an imperfect form, which in this narrative context carries a customary nuance, indicating continual action in past time.

[2:6]  ⁸ tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same nuance as the preceding verb. Whenever it would well up, it would water the ground.

[2:6]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew word אֲדָמָה (’adamah) actually means “ground; fertile soil.”

[2:1]  ¹⁰ tn See the note on the phrase “the heavens and the earth” in 1:1.

[2:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and all the host of them.” Here the “host” refers to all the entities and creatures that God created to populate the world.

[18:1]  ¹² tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ¹³ tn Or “terebinths.”

[18:1]  ¹⁴ tn The disjunctive clause here is circumstantial to the main clause.

[18:1]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew noun translated “entrance” is an adverbial accusative of place.

[18:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “terebinths.”

[18:1]  ¹⁸ tn The disjunctive clause here is circumstantial to the main clause.

[18:1]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew noun translated “entrance” is an adverbial accusative of place.

[5:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “who gives.” The participle continues the doxology here. But the article is necessary because of the distance between this verse and the reference to God.

[5:10]  ²¹ tn In both halves of the verse the literal rendering would be “upon the face of the earth” and “upon the face of the fields.”

[5:10]  ²² tn The second participle is simply coordinated to the first and therefore does not need the definite article repeated (see GKC 404 §126.b).

[5:10]  ²³ tn The Hebrew term חוּצוֹת (khutsot) basically means “outside,” or what is outside. It could refer to streets if what is meant is outside the house; but it refers to fields here (parallel to the more general word) because it is outside the village. See Ps 144:13 for the use of the expression for “countryside.” The LXX gives a much wider interpretation: “what is under heaven.”

[10:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “At the voice of his giving.” The idiom “to give the voice” is often used for thunder (cf. BDB 679 s.v. נָתַן Qal.1.x).

[10:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “from the ends of the earth.”

[10:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “he brings out the winds from his storehouses.”

[14:22]  ²⁷ tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel), often translated “vanities”, is a common pejorative epithet for idols or false gods. See already in 8:19 and 10:8.

[14:22]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Is it not you, O Lord our God?” The words “who does” are supplied in the translation for English style.

[14:22]  ²⁹ tn The rhetorical negatives are balanced by a rhetorical positive.

[10:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the latter rain.” This expression refers to the last concentration of heavy rainfall in the spring of the year in Palestine, about March or April. Metaphorically and eschatologically (as here) the “latter rain” speaks of God’s outpouring of blessing in the end times (cf. Hos 6:3; Joel 2:21-25).