Psalms 77:18

77:18 Your thunderous voice was heard in the wind;

the lightning bolts lit up the world;

the earth trembled and shook. ¹ 

Psalms 144:5-6

144:5 O Lord, make the sky sink ²  and come down! ³ 

Touch the mountains and make them smolder! ⁴ 

144:6 Hurl lightning bolts and scatter them!

Shoot your arrows and rout them! ⁵ 

Exodus 19:16-18

19:16 On ⁶  the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense ⁷  cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud ⁸  horn; ⁹  all the people who were in the camp trembled. 19:17 Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their place at the foot of the mountain. 19:18 Now Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire, and its smoke went up like the smoke of a great furnace, ¹⁰  and the whole mountain shook ¹¹  violently.

[77:18]  ¹ tn The prefixed verbal form may be taken as a preterite or as an imperfect with past progressive force.

[144:5]  ² tn The Hebrew verb נָטָה (natah) can carry the sense “to [cause to] bend; to [cause to] bow down.” For example, Gen 49:15 pictures Issachar as a donkey that “bends” its shoulder or back under a burden. Here the Lord causes the sky, pictured as a dome or vault, to sink down as he descends in the storm. See Ps 18:9.

[144:5]  ³ tn Heb “so you might come down.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose after the preceding imperative. The same type of construction is utilized in v. 6.

[144:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “so they might smolder.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose after the preceding imperative.

[144:6]  ⁵ sn Arrows and lightning bolts are associated in other texts (see Pss 18:14; 77:17-18; Zech 9:14), as well as in ancient Near Eastern art (see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” [Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983], 187).

[19:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “and it was on.”

[19:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “heavy” (כָּבֵד, kaved).

[19:16]  ⁸ tn Literally “strong” (חָזָק, khazaq).

[19:16]  ⁹ tn The word here is שֹׁפָר (shofar), the normal word for “horn.” This word is used especially to announce something important in a public event (see 1 Kgs 1:34; 2 Sam 6:15). The previous word used in the context (v. 16) was יֹבֵל (yovel, “ram’s horn”).

[19:18]  ¹⁰ sn The image is that of a large kiln, as in Gen 19:28.

[19:18]  ¹¹ tn This is the same word translated “trembled” above (v. 16).