Psalms 97:3-4

97:3 Fire goes before him;

on every side ¹  it burns up his enemies.

97:4 His lightning bolts light up the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

Habakkuk 3:4-5

3:4 He is as bright as lightning; ² 

a two-pronged lightning bolt flashes from his hand. ³ 

This is the outward display of his power. ⁴ 

3:5 Plague goes before him;

pestilence ⁵  marches right behind him. ⁶ 

Matthew 17:2

17:2 And he was transfigured before them. ⁷  His ⁸  face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

Matthew 17:5

17:5 While he was still speaking, a ⁹  bright cloud ¹⁰  overshadowed ¹¹  them, and a voice from the cloud said, ¹²  “This is my one dear Son, ¹³  in whom I take great delight. Listen to him!” ¹⁴ 

[97:3]  ¹ tn Heb “all around.”

[3:4]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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”].”

[3:5]  ⁵ tn Because of parallelism with the previous line, the meaning “pestilence” is favored for רֶשֶׁף (reshef) here, but usage elsewhere suggests a destructive bolt of fire may be in view. See BDB 958 s.v.

[3:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “goes out at his feet.”

[17:2]  ⁷ sn In 1st century Judaism and in the NT, there was the belief that the righteous get new, glorified bodies in order to enter heaven (1 Cor 15:42-49; 2 Cor 5:1-10). This transformation means the righteous will share the glory of God. One recalls the way Moses shared the Lord’s glory after his visit to the mountain in Exod 34. So the disciples saw Jesus transfigured, and they were getting a sneak preview of the great glory that Jesus would have (only his glory is more inherent to him as one who shares in the rule of the kingdom).

[17:2]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[17:5]  ⁹ tn Grk “behold, a.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated here or in the following clause because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[17:5]  ¹⁰ sn This cloud is the cloud of God’s presence and the voice is his as well.

[17:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “surrounded.”

[17:5]  ¹² tn Grk “behold, a voice from the cloud, saying.” This is an incomplete sentence in Greek which portrays intensity and emotion. The participle λέγουσα (legousa) was translated as a finite verb in keeping with English style.

[17:5]  ¹³ tn Grk “my beloved Son,” or “my Son, the beloved [one].” The force of ἀγαπητός (agaphtos) is often “pertaining to one who is the only one of his or her class, but at the same time is particularly loved and cherished” (L&N 58.53; cf. also BDAG 7 s.v. 1).

[17:5]  ¹⁴ sn The expression listen to him comes from Deut 18:15 and makes two points: 1) Jesus is a prophet like Moses, a leader-prophet, and 2) they have much yet to learn from him.