Numerous passages throughout the Old Testament associate the appearance of God with storms, earthquakes, and fire. The meaning of verses 11-12 has been much debated. Perhaps the most common view is that God is trying to tell Elijah that he will no longer make himself known through such spectacular events as storms, earthquakes, and fire. Rather, he will now speak to his people in a more quiet way through the messages of the prophets.
And he said: It may be better to have the noun phrase “the LORD” in place of the pronoun he in order to avoid giving the wrong impression that Elijah is still speaking.
Go forth is a somewhat archaic expression in English. It would be more natural to say “Go out” (Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, New International Version) or simply “Go” (Revised English Bible, New Century Version). According to verse 9, Elijah was in a cave, so God is asking him to leave the cave here. Parole de Vie translates “Go out of here!” but other translators may prefer to be more specific by saying “Go out of this cave.” If we assume that God was outside the cave, a better translation in English is “Come out [of the cave]” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).
Stand upon the mount before the LORD: Although God is speaking to Elijah, he refers to himself in the third person as the LORD. But it will be better in many languages to transform this into a first person reference, saying something like “stand before me on top of the mountain” (Good News Translation) or “present yourself to me….”
Behold, the LORD passed by … wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks …: The verbs rendered passed by, rent, and broke in pieces are participles in Hebrew and give vividness to the scene after the word behold. Walsh translates verses 11b-12 as follows:
Look! Yahweh is passing by! And a wind, great and strong, splits mountains and breaks rocks in pieces before Yahweh! But Yahweh is not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake! But Yahweh is not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire! But Yahweh is not in the fire. And after the fire, a sound of sheer silence!
It should be noted that Walsh’s translation takes all of verses 11-12 as a quotation of what God said to Elijah (also Anchor Bible). If this interpretation is followed, then there is no actual description of these things happening later. Nearly all translations, however, agree with Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation in taking only the first sentence as the words of God and in taking the rest of this verse and the next verse as the description of events that followed.
The LORD was not in the wind … the LORD was not in the earthquake: These expressions, along with “the LORD was not in the fire” (verse 12), may be difficult in some languages. The idea is that Yahweh was not speaking to Elijah through these violent natural phenomena. Most languages will probably have to retain a rather literal rendering of these expressions, but some may have to say “the LORD was not speaking through the wind … the earthquake … the fire.”
The translation of the word earthquake may present difficulties in languages where this type of natural disaster is unknown. Some may have to speak of a “violent shaking of the ground” or a “time when the earth trembles.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .