Hurricanes in The Bible?

                                                                                              By Pastor F. M. Riley

    “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind….,” Hosea 8:7

    Most of us who seriously study Bible prophecy are quite familiar with the various passages in God’s Word that predict earthquakes, fires, floods, pestilence, wars, signs in the heavens, etc.  But how often do you hear prophecy teachers emphasizing “hurricanes” during the coming Tribulation?  Think about it!  Does this mean that there will not be any hurricanes during that time?  Or…does it mean that most prophecy students have just overlooked the Biblical references to them because of the English translation?  I think the latter is probably correct.  Hurricanes are repeatedly mentioned and referred to in the Word of God.  Following is a list of the Scriptures using the word, “suphah.”  This is the Hebrew word that specifically means “hurricane” in the Old Testament Scriptures.  

1.          Job 21:18          “They [the wicked] are as stubble before the wind, and as

                                        Chaff that the storm carrieth away.”

2.                 27:20          “Terrors take hold on him [the rich man] as waters, a tempest

                                        stealeth him away in the night.”

3.                 37:9            “Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the

                                        north.” 

4.          Psalm 83:15      “So persecute them [the enemies of God and Israel] with Thy

                                        tempest, and make them afraid with Thy storm.”

5.          Proverbs 1:27   “When your fear [unbelieving sinners] cometh as desolation,

                                        and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress

                                        and anguish cometh upon you.”

6.                         10:25   “As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the

                                        righteous is an everlasting foundation.” 

7.          Isaiah 5:28        “Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their

                                        horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels

                                        like a whirlwind.” 

8.                     17:13      “The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters:

                                        But God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and

                                        shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the

                                        wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.”

9.                     21:1        “The burden of the desert of the sea.  As whirlwinds in the

                                        south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a

                                        terrible land.”

10.                  29:6         “Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and

                                        with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest,

                                        and the flame of devouring fire.”

11.                 66:15        “For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His

                                        chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and

                                        and His rebuke with flames of fire.”

12.       Jeremiah 4:13    “Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be

                                        as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles.  Woe unto

                                        us!  for we are spoiled.”

13.       Hosea 8:7           “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the

                                        whirlwind:…..”

14.       Amos 1:14          “But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall

                                        devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of

                                        battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind.”

15.       Nahum 1:3         “The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not

                                        at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath His way in the

                                        whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of

                                        His feet.”

    This is the fifteen places in the Old Testament where the Hebrew word for “hurricane is specifically used.  However, there are many related words in various Scriptures, such as tempest, storm, wind, flood, etc. which describe the varying effects of hurricanes.  If you want the full picture, then study all of these related words with a good Concordance or Lexicon.  “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light upon my path,” Psalm 119:105.  We are living in terrible times.  Let’s exhort and encourage one another to more study and exposition of the Word, and less discussion of ideas and opinions. 

    May God bless every reader is our prayer.

                            Pastor F. M. Riley