Ulangan 32:22

32:22 For a fire has been kindled by my anger,

and it burns to lowest Sheol; ¹ 

it consumes the earth and its produce,

and ignites the foundations of the mountains.

Mazmur 65:6

65:6 You created the mountains by your power, ² 

and demonstrated your strength. ³ 

Mazmur 104:6

104:6 The watery deep covered it ⁴  like a garment;

the waters reached ⁵  above the mountains. ⁶ 

Mazmur 104:8

104:8 as the mountains rose up,

and the valleys went down –

to the place you appointed for them. ⁷ 

Yesaya 40:12

The Lord is Incomparable

40:12 Who has measured out the waters ⁸  in the hollow of his hand,

or carefully ⁹  measured the sky, ¹⁰ 

or carefully weighed ¹¹  the soil of the earth,

or weighed the mountains in a balance,

or the hills on scales? ¹² 

Habakuk 3:6

3:6 He takes his battle position ¹³  and shakes ¹⁴  the earth;

with a mere look he frightens ¹⁵  the nations.

The ancient mountains disintegrate; ¹⁶ 

the primeval hills are flattened.

He travels on the ancient roads. ¹⁷ 

Habakuk 3:10

3:10 When the mountains see you, they shake.

The torrential downpour sweeps through. ¹⁸ 

The great deep ¹⁹  shouts out;

it lifts its hands high. ²⁰ 

[32:22]  ¹ tn Or “to the lowest depths of the earth”; cf. NAB “to the depths of the nether world”; NIV “to the realm of death below”; NLT “to the depths of the grave.”

[32:22]  sn Sheol refers here not to hell and hell-fire – a much later concept – but to the innermost parts of the earth, as low down as one could get. The parallel with “the foundations of the mountains” makes this clear (cf. Pss 9:17; 16:10; 139:8; Isa 14:9, 15; Amos 9:2).

[65:6]  ² tn Heb “[the] one who establishes [the] mountains by his power.”

[65:6]  ³ tn Heb “one [who] is girded with strength”; or “one [who] girds himself with strength.”

[104:6]  ⁴ tc Heb “you covered it.” The masculine suffix is problematic if the grammatically feminine noun “earth” is the antecedent. For this reason some emend the form to a feminine verb with feminine suffix, כִּסַּתָּה (kisattah, “[the watery deep] covered it [i.e., the earth]”), a reading assumed by the present translation.

[104:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “stood.”

[104:6]  ⁶ sn Verse 6 refers to the condition described in Gen 1:2 (note the use of the Hebrew term תְּהוֹם [tÿhom, “watery deep”] in both texts).

[104:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “from your shout they fled, from the sound of your thunder they hurried off.”

[104:8]  sn Verses 7-8 poetically depict Gen 1:9-10.

[40:12]  ⁸ tn The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has מי ים (“waters of the sea”), a reading followed by NAB.

[40:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “with a span.” A “span” was the distance between the ends of the thumb and the little finger of the spread hand” (BDB 285 s.v. זֶרֶת).

[40:12]  ¹⁰ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[40:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “or weighed by a third part [of a measure].”

[40:12]  ¹² sn The implied answer to the rhetorical questions of v. 12 is “no one but the Lord. The Lord, and no other, created the world. Like a merchant weighing out silver or commodities on a scale, the Lord established the various components of the physical universe in precise proportions.

[3:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “he stands.”

[3:6]  ¹⁴ tn This verb has been traditionally understood as “measure” (from מוּד, mud), but the immediately following context (vv. 6b-7) favors the meaning “shake” from מָוד (mavd; see HALOT 555 s.v.).

[3:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “makes [the nations] jump [in fear].”

[3:6]  ¹⁶ tn Or “crumbled,” broke into pieces.”

[3:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “ancient ways [or, “doings”] are his.” The meaning of this line is unclear. Traditionally it has been translated, “his ways are eternal.” However, in this context (see vv. 3, 7) it is more likely that the line speaks of the Lord taking the same route as in the days of Moses and Deborah (see Deut 33:2; Judg 5:4). See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 154.

[3:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a heavy rain of waters passes by.” Perhaps the flash floods produced by the downpour are in view here.

[3:10]  ¹⁹ sn The great deep, which is to be equated with the sea (vv. 8, 15), is a symbol of chaos and represents the Lord’s enemies.

[3:10]  ²⁰ sn Lifting the hands here suggests panic and is accompanied by a cry for mercy (see Ps 28:2; Lam 2:19). The forces of chaos cannot withstand the Lord’s power revealed in the storm.