Wisdom of Solomon 18:14
11 The master and the servant were punished after one manner; and like as the king, so suffered the common person. 12 So they all together had innumerable dead with one kind of death; neither were the living sufficient to bury them: for in one moment the noblest offspring of them was destroyed. 13 For whereas they would not believe any thing by reason of the enchantments; upon the destruction of the firstborn, they acknowledged this people to be the sons of God. 14 For while all things were in quiet silence, and that night was in the midst of her swift course, 15 Thine Almighty word leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war into the midst of a land of destruction, 16 And brought thine unfeigned commandment as a sharp sword, and standing up filled all things with death; and it touched the heaven, but it stood upon the earth. 17 Then suddenly visions of horrible dreams troubled them sore, and terrors came upon them unlooked for. 18 And one thrown here, and another there, half dead, shewed the cause of his death.
Revelation 8:1
1 Now when the Lamb opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel holding a golden censer came and was stationed at the altar. A large amount of incense was given to him to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar that is before the throne. 4 The smoke coming from the incense, along with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth, and there were crashes of thunder, roaring, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
Notes and References
"... In Old Testament and Jewish tradition “silence” is associated both with Egypt’s defeat and Israel’s redemption at the Red Sea. This likely derives from Exodus 14:14 LXX, where Moses commands the Israelites to “be silent” [sigaō] and not fight, because the Lord would destroy the Egyptians. Wisdom of Solomon 18–19 is especially interesting. A “quiet silence” (18:14) immediately precedes God’s judgment of the firstborn in Egypt—this just after Moses’ intercessory prayer, which appears to be equated with a propitiation of incense (18:21). The deliverance of Israel is then repeatedly described as a new creation (19:6–8, 11, 18–21). For related descriptions of the judgment of Egypt, we may compare Targum Exodus 15; Psalm 76:6–9; Mekilta deRabbi Ishmael 7:20–23. Finally, there is a Jewish tradition that in the fifth heaven angelic servants praise God at night but become silent during the day so that the praises offered by Israel could be heard by God (b. Chagigah 12b; b. Avoda Zara 3b). A partial basis for both this Jewish tradition and Revelation 8:1 may be Psalm 65:1–2: “There will be silence before Thee, [even] praise in Zion ... O Thou who dost hear prayer” (compare Midrash Psalms 65:1; b. Eruvn 19a; Midrash Psalms 31 on Psalm 31:18; Testament of Adam 1:11–12; 4Q405 20 II, 7). A variant of this theme is reflected in Targum Ezekiel 1:24–25, which asserts that when the guardian cherubs were in motion, they “were blessing and thanking” God, but “when they stood still, [they] became silent” in order to hear God’s revelatory word, which in the context of Ezekiel 1–2 is a pronouncement of judgment on Israel ..."
Beale, G. K., and D. A. Carson Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (pp. 2495-2496) Baker Academic, 2007