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WHIRLWIND
Term descriptive of any strong, potentially destructive wind (Jb 27:20; Ps 77:18; Dn 11:40). While whirlwinds are relatively common in the arid regions of the Middle East (e.g., dust devils), the apparent fury and destructiveness of the biblical “whirlwinds” makes it unlikely that the relatively harmless dust devils are intended (cf. Am 1:14; Hb 3:14). Sirocco winds from the eastern deserts are occasionally cyclonic in form, but the winds in Scripture may not be whirlwinds in the technical sense.
Biblical whirlwinds were often associated with divine activity. Elijah was taken into heaven by a whirlwind (one case where “whirlwind” may properly be translated as such; 2 Kgs 2:1, 11). God frequently spoke out of the whirlwind (Jb 38:1; 40:6; Ps 77:18). The description of the sudden destruction of divine judgment was frequently associated with storms, tempests, and whirlwinds (Hos 8:7; Am 1:14; Na 1:3; Hb 3:14).