Mazmur 65:9

65:9 You visit the earth and give it rain; ¹ 

you make it rich and fertile ² 

with overflowing streams full of water. ³ 

You provide grain for them, ⁴ 

for you prepare the earth to yield its crops. ⁵ 

Mazmur 72:6

72:6 He ⁶  will descend like rain on the mown grass, ⁷ 

like showers that drench ⁸  the earth. ⁹ 

Mazmur 104:13

104:13 He waters the mountains from the upper rooms of his palace; ¹⁰ 

the earth is full of the fruit you cause to grow. ¹¹ 

Yesaya 44:3

44:3 For I will pour water on the parched ground ¹² 

and cause streams to flow ¹³  on the dry land.

I will pour my spirit on your offspring

and my blessing on your children.

Yehezkiel 34:26

34:26 I will turn them and the regions around my hill into a blessing. I will make showers come down in their season; they will be showers that bring blessing. ¹⁴ 

Hosea 10:12

10:12 Sow righteousness for yourselves,

reap unfailing love.

Break up the unplowed ground for yourselves,

for it is time to seek the Lord,

until he comes and showers deliverance ¹⁵  on you.

Mikha 5:7

5:7 Those survivors from ¹⁶  Jacob will live ¹⁷ 

in the midst of many nations. ¹⁸ 

They will be like the dew the Lord sends,

like the rain on the grass,

that does not hope for men to come

or wait around for humans to arrive. ¹⁹ 

Mikha 5:1

5:1 (4:14) ²⁰  But now slash yourself, ²¹  daughter surrounded by soldiers! ²² 

We are besieged!

With a scepter ²³  they strike Israel’s ruler ²⁴ 

on the side of his face.

Kolose 3:6

3:6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. ²⁵ 

[65:9]  ¹ tn The verb form is a Polel from שׁוּק (shuq, “be abundant”), a verb which appears only here and in Joel 2:24 and 3:13, where it is used in the Hiphil stem and means “overflow.”

[65:9]  ² tn Heb “you greatly enrich it.”

[65:9]  ³ tn Heb “[with] a channel of God full of water.” The divine name is probably used here in a superlative sense to depict a very deep stream (“a stream fit for God,” as it were).

[65:9]  ⁴ tn The pronoun apparently refers to the people of the earth, mentioned in v. 8.

[65:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “for thus [referring to the provision of rain described in the first half of the verse] you prepare it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix attached to the verb “prepare” refers back to the “earth,” which is a feminine noun with regard to grammatical form.

[72:6]  ⁶ tn That is, the king (see vv. 2, 4).

[72:6]  ⁷ tn The rare term zg refers to a sheep’s fleece in Deut 18:4 and Job 31:20, but to “mown” grass or crops here and in Amos 7:1.

[72:6]  ⁸ tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to be an otherwise unattested noun. Many prefer to emend the form to a verb from the root זָרַף (zaraf). BHS in textual note b on this verse suggests a Hiphil imperfect, third masculine plural יַזְרִיפוּ (yazrifu), while HALOT 283 s.v. *זרף prefers a Pilpel perfect, third masculine plural זִרְזְפוּ (zirzÿfu). The translation assumes the latter.

[72:6]  ⁹ sn The imagery of this verse compares the blessings produced by the king’s reign to fructifying rains that cause the crops to grow.

[104:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from his upper rooms.”

[104:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from the fruit of your works the earth is full.” The translation assumes that “fruit” is literal here. If “fruit” is understood more abstractly as “product; result,” then one could translate, “the earth flourishes as a result of your deeds” (cf. NIV, NRSV, REB).

[44:3]  ¹² tn Heb “the thirsty.” Parallelism suggests that dry ground is in view (see “dry land” in the next line.)

[44:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “and streams”; KJV “floods.” The verb “cause…to flow” is supplied in the second line for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[34:26]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “showers of blessing.” Abundant rain, which in turn produces fruit and crops (v. 27), is a covenantal blessing for obedience (Lev 26:4).

[10:12]  ¹⁵ tn Or “righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “justice.”

[5:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the remnant of” (also in v. 8).

[5:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will be.”

[5:7]  ¹⁸ tn This could mean “(scattered) among the nations” (cf. CEV, NLT) or “surrounded by many nations” (cf. NRSV).

[5:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “that does not hope for man, and does not wait for the sons of men.”

[5:7]  sn Men wait eagerly for the dew and the rain, not vice versa. Just as the dew and rain are subject to the Lord, not men, so the remnant of Israel will succeed by the supernatural power of God and not need the support of other nations. There may even be a military metaphor here. Israel will overwhelm their enemies, just as the dew completely covers the grass (see 2 Sam 17:12). This interpretation would be consistent with the image of v. 7.

[5:1]  ²⁰ sn Beginning with 5:1, the verse numbers through 5:15 in the English Bible differ by one from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 5:1 ET = 4:14 HT, 5:2 ET = 5:1 HT, 5:3 ET = 5:2 HT, etc., through 5:15 ET = 5:14 HT. From 6:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

[5:1]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew verb גָדַד (gadad) can be translated “slash yourself” or “gather in troops.” A number of English translations are based on the latter meaning (e.g., NASB, NIV, NLT).

[5:1]  sn Slash yourself. Slashing one’s body was a form of mourning. See Deut 14:1; 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5.

[5:1]  ²² tn Heb “daughter of a troop of warriors.”

[5:1]  sn The daughter surrounded by soldiers is an image of the city of Jerusalem under siege (note the address “Daughter Jerusalem” in 4:8).

[5:1]  ²³ tn Or “staff”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “rod”; CEV “stick”; NCV “club.”

[5:1]  sn Striking a king with a scepter, a symbol of rulership, would be especially ironic and humiliating.

[5:1]  ²⁴ tn Traditionally, “the judge of Israel” (so KJV, NASB).

[3:6]  ²⁵ tc The words ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας (epi tou" Juiou" th" apeiqeia", “on the sons of disobedience”) are lacking in Ì⁴⁶ B b sa, but are found in א A C D F G H I Ψ 075 0278 33 1739 1881 Ï lat sy bo. The words are omitted by several English translations (NASB, NIV, ESV, TNIV). This textual problem is quite difficult to resolve. On the one hand, the parallel account in Eph 5:6 has these words, thus providing scribes a motive for adding them here. On the other hand, the reading without the words may be too hard: The ἐν οἷς (en |oi") of v. 7 seems to have no antecedent without υἱούς already in the text, although it could possibly be construed as neuter referring to the vice list in v. 5. Further, although the witness of B is especially important, there are other places in which B and Ì⁴⁶ share errant readings of omission. Nevertheless, the strength of the internal evidence against the longer reading is at least sufficient to cause doubt here. The decision to retain the words in the text is less than certain.

[3:6]  sn The expression sons of disobedience is a Semitic idiom that means “people characterized by disobedience.” In this context it refers to “all those who are disobedient.” Cf. Eph 5:6.