Revelation 9:17

9:17 Now ¹  this is what the horses and their riders ²  looked like in my ³  vision: The riders had breastplates that were fiery red, ⁴  dark blue, ⁵  and sulfurous ⁶  yellow in color. ⁷  The ⁸  heads of the horses looked like lions’ heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur ⁹  came out of their mouths.

Job 40:18

40:18 Its bones are tubes of bronze,

its limbs like bars of iron.

Job 41:23-30

41:23 The folds ¹⁰  of its flesh are tightly joined;

they are firm on it, immovable. ¹¹ 

41:24 Its heart ¹²  is hard as rock,

hard as a lower millstone.

41:25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified,

at its thrashing about they withdraw. ¹³ 

41:26 Whoever strikes it with a sword ¹⁴ 

will have no effect, ¹⁵ 

nor with the spear, arrow, or dart.

41:27 It regards iron as straw

and bronze as rotten wood.

41:28 Arrows ¹⁶  do not make it flee;

slingstones become like chaff to it.

41:29 A club is counted ¹⁷  as a piece of straw;

it laughs at the rattling of the lance.

41:30 Its underparts ¹⁸  are the sharp points of potsherds,

it leaves its mark in the mud

like a threshing sledge. ¹⁹ 

Joel 2:8

2:8 They do not jostle one another; ²⁰ 

each of them marches straight ahead. ²¹ 

They burst through ²²  the city defenses ²³ 

and do not break ranks.

[9:17]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of the description of the horses and riders, which is somewhat parenthetical in the narrative.

[9:17]  ² tn Grk “and those seated on them.”

[9:17]  ³ tn Grk “the vision”; the Greek article has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[9:17]  ⁴ tn L&N 79.31 states, “‘fiery red’ (probably with a tinge of yellow or orange).”

[9:17]  ⁵ tn On this term BDAG 1022 s.v. ὑακίνθινος states, “hyacinth-colored, i.e. dark blue (dark red?) w. πύρινος Rv 9:17.”

[9:17]  ⁶ tn On this term BDAG 446 s.v. θειώδης states, “sulphurous Rv 9:17.”

[9:17]  ⁷ sn The colors of the riders’ breastplates parallel the three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur in v. 18.

[9:17]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[9:17]  ⁹ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

[41:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “fallings.”

[41:23]  ¹¹ tn The last clause says “it cannot be moved.” But this part will function adverbially in the sentence.

[41:24]  ¹² tn The description of his heart being “hard” means that he is cruel and fearless. The word for “hard” is the word encountered before for molten or cast metal.

[41:25]  ¹³ tc This verse has created all kinds of problems for the commentators. The first part is workable: “when he raises himself up, the mighty [the gods] are terrified.” The mythological approach would render אֵלִים (’elim) as “gods.” But the last two words, which could be rendered “at the breaking [crashing, or breakers] they fail,” receive much attention. E. Dhorme (Job, 639) suggests “majesty” for “raising up” and “billows” (גַּלִּים, gallim) for אֵלִים (’elim), and gets a better parallelism: “the billows are afraid of his majesty, and the waves draw back.” But H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 263) does not think this is relevant to the context, which is talking about the creature’s defense against attack. The RSV works well for the first part, but the second part need some change; so Rowley adopts “in their dire consternation they are beside themselves.”

[41:26]  ¹⁴ tn This is the clearest reading, following A. B. Davidson, Job, 285. The versions took different readings of the construction.

[41:26]  ¹⁵ tn The verb קוּם (qum, “stand”) with בְּלִי (bÿli, “not”) has the sense of “does not hold firm,” or “gives way.”

[41:28]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the son of the bow.”

[41:29]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is plural, but since there is no expressed subject it is translated as a passive here.

[41:30]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “under him.”

[41:30]  ¹⁹ tn Here only the word “sharp” is present, but in passages like Isa 41:15 it is joined with “threshing sledge.” Here and in Amos 1:3 and Isa 28:27 the word stands alone, but represents the “sledge.”

[2:8]  ²⁰ tn “each one does not crowd his brother.”

[2:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “each warrior walks in his own course.”

[2:8]  ²² tn Heb “they fall upon.” This line has been interpreted in two different ways: (1) although they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded (KJV), or (2) when they “burst through” the city’s defenses, they will not break ranks (RSV, NASB, NIV, NIrV).

[2:8]  ²³ tn Heb “missile” or “javelin.” This term appears to function as a synecdoche for the city’s defenses as a whole (cf. NASB, NIV, TEV). Some scholars instead understand the reference to be an aqueduct by which the locusts (or armies) entered the city.