Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 78:48

"He gave over their cattle also to the hail, And their flocks to hot thunderbolts." — Psalms 78:48 (ASV)

He gave up their cattle also to the hail – Margin: "he shut up" (Exodus 9:22–25).

And their flocks to hot thunderbolts – Margin: "lightnings." The original word means flame, then lightning. There is no allusion in the word to the idea of a bolt or shaft accompanying the lightning or the thunder, by which destruction is produced.

The destruction is caused by the lightning, not by the thunder, and it is hardly necessary to say that no shaft or bolt accompanies it. Probably this notion was formerly entertained and found its way into common language. The same idea is retained by us in the word "thunderbolt." But this idea is not in the original, nor is there any foundation for it in fact.