'Wind' in the Bible
But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over the earth and the waters receded.
Then seven heads of grain, thin and burned by the east wind, were sprouting up after them.
Then seven heads of grain, withered and thin and burned with the east wind, were sprouting up after them.
The seven lean, bad-looking cows that came up after them represent seven years, as do the seven empty heads of grain burned with the east wind. They represent seven years of famine.
So Moses extended his staff over the land of Egypt, and then the Lord brought an east wind on the land all that day and all night. The morning came, and the east wind had brought up the locusts!
and the Lord turned a very strong west wind, and it picked up the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt.
Moses stretched out his hand toward the sea, and the Lord drove the sea apart by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea into dry land, and the water was divided.
Now a wind went out from the Lord and brought quail from the sea, and let them fall near the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and about a day's journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about three feet high on the surface of the ground.
Be strong and act like men, you Philistines, or else you will wind up serving the Hebrews the way they have served you! Act like men and fight!"
He mounted a winged angel and flew; he glided on the wings of the wind.
Meanwhile the sky was covered with dark clouds, the wind blew, and there was a heavy rainstorm. Ahab rode toward Jezreel.
The Lord said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. Look, the Lord is ready to pass by." A very powerful wind went before the Lord, digging into the mountain and causing landslides, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the windstorm there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
They said to him, "Look, there are fifty capable men with your servants. Let them go and look for your master, for the wind sent from the Lord may have carried him away and dropped him on one of the hills or in one of the valleys." But Elisha replied, "Don't send them out."
for this is what the Lord says, 'You will not feel any wind or see any rain, but this valley will be full of water and you and your cattle and animals will drink.'
Their residents are powerless, they are terrified and ashamed. They are as short-lived as plants in the field, or green vegetation. They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops when it is scorched by the east wind.
Do you intend to criticize mere words, and treat the words of a despairing man as wind?
"How long will you speak these things, seeing that the words of your mouth are like a great wind?
"Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge, or fill his belly with the east wind?
How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind?
The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.
When he made the force of the wind and measured the waters with a gauge.
Terrors are turned loose on me; they drive away my honor like the wind, and like a cloud my deliverance has passed away.
You pick me up on the wind and make me ride on it; you toss me about in the storm.
You, whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind,
But now, the sun cannot be looked at -- it is bright in the skies -- after a wind passed and swept the clouds away.
For the music director, to be accompanied by wind instruments; a psalm of David. Listen to what I say, Lord! Carefully consider my complaint!
He mounted a winged angel and flew; he glided on the wings of the wind.
I will hurry off to a place that is safe from the strong wind and the gale."
As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away. As wax melts before fire, so the wicked are destroyed before God.
Your thunderous voice was heard in the wind; the lightning bolts lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook.
He brought the east wind through the sky, and by his strength led forth the south wind.
He remembered that they were made of flesh, and were like a wind that blows past and does not return.
O my God, make them like dead thistles, like dead weeds blown away by the wind!
but when the hot wind blows by, it disappears, and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.
and lays the beams of the upper rooms of his palace on the rain clouds. He makes the clouds his chariot, and travels along on the wings of the wind.
He causes the clouds to arise from the end of the earth, makes lightning bolts accompany the rain, and brings the wind out of his storehouses.
He throws his hailstones like crumbs. Who can withstand the cold wind he sends?
O fire and hail, snow and clouds, O stormy wind that carries out his orders,
Like cloudy skies and wind that produce no rain, so is the one who boasts of a gift not given.
The north wind brings forth rain, and a gossiping tongue brings forth an angry look.
Whoever hides her hides the wind or grasps oil with his right hand.
The wind goes to the south and circles around to the north; round and round the wind goes and on its rounds it returns.
I reflected on everything that is accomplished by man on earth, and I concluded: Everything he has accomplished is futile -- like chasing the wind!
So I decided to discern the benefit of wisdom and knowledge over foolish behavior and ideas; however, I concluded that even this endeavor is like trying to chase the wind!
Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, I concluded: "All these achievements and possessions are ultimately profitless -- like chasing the wind! There is nothing gained from them on earth."
So I loathed life because what happens on earth seems awful to me; for all the benefits of wisdom are futile -- like chasing the wind.
For to the one who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner, he gives the task of amassing wealth -- only to give it to the one who pleases God. This task of the wicked is futile -- like chasing the wind!
Then I considered all the skillful work that is done: Surely it is nothing more than competition between one person and another. This also is profitless -- like chasing the wind.
Better is one handful with some rest than two hands full of toil and chasing the wind.
There is no end to all the people nor to the past generations, yet future generations will not rejoice in him. This also is profitless and like chasing the wind.
This is another misfortune: Just as he came, so will he go. What did he gain from toiling for the wind?
It is better to be content with what the eyes can see than for one's heart always to crave more. This continual longing is futile -- like chasing the wind.
Just as no one has power over the wind to restrain it, so no one has power over the day of his death. Just as no one can be discharged during the battle, so wickedness cannot rescue the wicked.
He who watches the wind will not sow, and he who observes the clouds will not reap.
Just as you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones form in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.
The Beloved to Her Lover: Awake, O north wind; come, O south wind! Blow on my garden so that its fragrant spices may send out their sweet smell. May my beloved come into his garden and eat its delightful fruit!
It was reported to the family of David, "Syria has allied with Ephraim." They and their people were emotionally shaken, just as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
The Lord will divide the gulf of the Egyptian Sea; he will wave his hand over the Euphrates River and send a strong wind, he will turn it into seven dried-up streams, and enable them to walk across in their sandals.
Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves, when he shouts at them, they will flee to a distant land, driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills, or like dead thistles before a strong gale.
He will wind you up tightly into a ball and throw you into a wide, open land. There you will die, and there with you will be your impressive chariots, which bring disgrace to the house of your master.
We were pregnant, we strained, we gave birth, as it were, to wind. We cannot produce deliverance on the earth; people to populate the world are not born.
When you summon her for divorce, you prosecute her; he drives her away with his strong wind in the day of the east wind.
Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from a rainstorm; like streams of water in a dry region and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.
Their residents are powerless; they are terrified and ashamed. They are as short-lived as plants in the field or green vegetation. They are as short-lived as grass on the rooftops when it is scorched by the east wind.
The grass dries up, the flowers wither, when the wind sent by the Lord blows on them. Surely humanity is like grass.
Indeed, they are barely planted; yes, they are barely sown; yes, they barely take root in the earth, and then he blows on them, causing them to dry up, and the wind carries them away like straw.
You will winnow them and the wind will blow them away; the wind will scatter them. You will rejoice in the Lord; you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.
When you cry out for help, let your idols help you! The wind blows them all away, a breeze carries them away. But the one who looks to me for help will inherit the land and will have access to my holy mountain."
In the west, people respect the Lord's reputation; in the east they recognize his splendor. For he comes like a rushing stream driven on by wind sent from the Lord.
We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. We all wither like a leaf; our sins carry us away like the wind.
You are like a wild female donkey brought up in the wilderness. In her lust she sniffs the wind to get the scent of a male. No one can hold her back when she is in heat. None of the males need wear themselves out chasing after her. At mating time she is easy to find.
"At that time the people of Judah and Jerusalem will be told, 'A scorching wind will sweep down from the hilltops in the desert on my dear people. It will not be a gentle breeze for winnowing the grain and blowing away the chaff.
No, a wind too strong for that will come at my bidding. Yes, even now I, myself, am calling down judgment on them.'
The prophets will prove to be full of wind. The Lord has not spoken through them. So, let what they say happen to them.'"
When his voice thunders, the heavenly ocean roars. He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons. He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain. He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it.
"The Lord says, 'That is why I will scatter your people like chaff that is blown away by a desert wind.
The Lord continued, "In every town in the land I will purge them like straw blown away by the wind. I will destroy my people. I will kill off their children. I will do so because they did not change their behavior.
I will scatter them before their enemies like dust blowing in front of a burning east wind. I will turn my back on them and not look favorably on them when disaster strikes them."
My judgment will carry off all your leaders like a storm wind! Your allies will go into captivity. Then you will certainly be disgraced and put to shame because of all the wickedness you have done.
The Lord says, "I will cause a destructive wind to blow against Babylon and the people who inhabit Babylonia.
I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff. They will winnow her and strip her land bare. This will happen when they come against her from every direction, when it is time to destroy her.
When his voice thunders, the waters in the heavens roar. He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons. He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain. He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it.
As he spoke to me, a wind came into me and stood me on my feet, and I heard the one speaking to me.
Then a wind lifted me up and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me as the glory of the Lord rose from its place,
A wind lifted me up and carried me away. I went bitterly, my spirit full of fury, and the hand of the Lord rested powerfully on me.
Then a wind came into me and stood me on my feet. The Lord spoke to me and said, "Go shut yourself in your house.
Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them.
He stretched out the form of a hand and grabbed me by a lock of hair on my head. Then a wind lifted me up between the earth and sky and brought me to Jerusalem by means of divine visions, to the door of the inner gate which faces north where the statue which provokes to jealousy was located.
A wind lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord's temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people.
Then a wind lifted me up and carried me to the exiles in Babylonia, in the vision given to me by the Spirit of God. Then the vision I had seen went up from me.
All his retinue -- his attendants and his troops -- I will scatter to every wind; I will unleash a sword behind them.
Tell the ones who coat it with whitewash that it will fall. When there is a deluge of rain, hailstones will fall and a violent wind will break out.
"'Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: In my rage I will make a violent wind break out. In my anger there will be a deluge of rain and hailstones in destructive fury.
Consider! It is planted, but will it prosper? Will it not wither completely when the east wind blows on it? Will it not wither in the soil where it sprouted?'"
All the choice men among his troops will die by the sword and the survivors will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken!
But it was plucked up in anger; it was thrown down to the ground. The east wind dried up its fruit; its strong branches broke off and withered -- a fire consumed them.
Your rowers have brought you into surging waters. The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas.
Then a wind lifted me up and brought me to the inner court; I watched the glory of the Lord filling the temple.
Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were broken in pieces without distinction and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors that the wind carries away. Not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a large mountain that filled the entire earth.