Psalms 33:7

33:7 He piles up the water of the sea; ¹ 

he puts the oceans ²  in storehouses.

Genesis 9:11-15

9:11 I confirm ³  my covenant with you: Never again will all living things ⁴  be wiped out ⁵  by the waters of a flood; ⁶  never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

9:12 And God said, “This is the guarantee ⁷  of the covenant I am making ⁸  with you ⁹  and every living creature with you, a covenant ¹⁰  for all subsequent ¹¹  generations: 9:13 I will place ¹²  my rainbow ¹³  in the clouds, and it will become ¹⁴  a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth. 9:14 Whenever ¹⁵  I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 9:15 then I will remember my covenant with you ¹⁶  and with all living creatures of all kinds. ¹⁷  Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy ¹⁸  all living things. ¹⁹ 

Job 26:10

26:10 He marks out the horizon ²⁰  on the surface of the waters

as a boundary between light and darkness.

Job 38:10-11

38:10 when I prescribed ²¹  its limits,

and set ²²  in place its bolts and doors,

38:11 when I said, ‘To here you may come ²³ 

and no farther, ²⁴ 

here your proud waves will be confined’? ²⁵ 

Isaiah 54:9

54:9 “As far as I am concerned, this is like in Noah’s time, ²⁶ 

when I vowed that the waters of Noah’s flood ²⁷  would never again cover the earth.

In the same way I have vowed that I will not be angry at you or shout at you.

Jeremiah 5:22

5:22 “You should fear me!” says the Lord.

“You should tremble in awe before me! ²⁸ 

I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea,

a permanent barrier that it can never cross.

Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail.

They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary.” ²⁹ 

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

[9:11]  ³ tn The verb וַהֲקִמֹתִי (vahaqimoti) is a perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive and should be translated with the English present tense, just as the participle at the beginning of the speech was (v. 9). Another option is to translate both forms with the English future tense (“I will confirm”).

[9:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “cut off.”

[9:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “and all flesh will not be cut off again by the waters of the flood.”

[9:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “sign.”

[9:12]  ⁸ sn On the making of covenants in Genesis, see W. F. Albright, “The Hebrew Expression for ‘Making a Covenant’ in Pre-Israelite Documents,” BASOR 121 (1951): 21-22.

[9:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “between me and between you.”

[9:12]  ¹⁰ tn The words “a covenant” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:12]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term עוֹלָם (’olam) means “ever, forever, lasting, perpetual.” The covenant would extend to subsequent generations.

[9:13]  ¹² tn The translation assumes that the perfect verbal form is used rhetorically, emphasizing the certainty of the action. Other translation options include “I have placed” (present perfect; cf. NIV, NRSV) and “I place” (instantaneous perfect; cf. NEB).

[9:13]  ¹³ sn The Hebrew word קֶשֶׁת (qeshet) normally refers to a warrior’s bow. Some understand this to mean that God the warrior hangs up his battle bow at the end of the flood, indicating he is now at peace with humankind, but others question the legitimacy of this proposal. See C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:473, and G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:196.

[9:13]  ¹⁴ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here has the same aspectual function as the preceding perfect of certitude.

[9:14]  ¹⁵ tn The temporal indicator (וְהָיָה, vÿhayah, conjunction + the perfect verb form), often translated “it will be,” anticipates a future development.

[9:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “which [is] between me and between you.”

[9:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to destroy.”

[9:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[26:10]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Dhorme suggested reversing the two verbs, making this the first, and then “shatter” for the second colon.

[38:11]  ²³ tn The imperfect verb receives the permission nuance here.

[38:11]  ²⁴ tn The text has תֹסִיף (tosif, “and you may not add”), which is often used idiomatically (as in verbal hendiadys constructions).

[38:11]  ²⁵ 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.

[54:9]  ²⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “For [or “indeed”] the waters of Noah [is] this to me.” כִּי־מֵי (ki-me, “for the waters of”) should be emended to כְּמֵי (kÿmey, “like the days of”), which is supported by the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a and all the ancient versions except LXX.

[54:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the waters of Noah” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[5:22]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Should you not fear me? Should you not tremble in awe before me?” The rhetorical questions expect the answer explicit in the translation.

[5:22]  ²⁹ tn Heb “it.” The referent is made explicit to avoid any possible confusion.