Bible Strands
Psalms 18:7
Then the earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains trembled; they were shaken because He burned with anger.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David speaks to God and the community, describing the immediate aftermath of his desperate cry for deliverance in Psalm 18:6. The moment captures the divine response to his distress, positioned between descriptions of God hearing his voice and emitting consuming fire.
The words — The Hebrew verb תִּרְעַשׁ (tir.'Ash, H7493) literally means "it quaked," paired with יִרְגָּזוּ (yir.Ga.zu, H7264) for "they trembled" regarding the mountain foundations. These terms describe the physical destabilization of the earth and mountains as a direct result of divine anger.
The thread — Earth-shaking imagery recurs in Acts 4:31 after believers pray, in Psalm 68:7 as God marches through the wasteland, and in Ezekiel 38:19 during a prophetic earthquake in Israel. These passages link terrestrial shaking to divine intervention, movement, or judgment.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine anger triggers tangible cosmic disruption, not merely emotional reaction. A reader must acknowledge that God's response to distress operates with physical and cosmic weight, requiring sober attention to His power rather than passive observation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
Cross-references
- Acts 4:31 After they had prayed, their meeting place was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
- Psalms 68:7 O God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the wasteland, Selah
- Ezekiel 38:19 In My zeal and fiery rage I proclaim that on that day there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.
- Deuteronomy 32:22 For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.
- Judges 5:4 O LORD, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the land of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain, and the clouds poured down water.
- Jeremiah 4:24 I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.
- Acts 16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
- Psalms 114:4 the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
- Habakkuk 3:6 He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations; the ancient mountains crumbled; the perpetual hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting.
- Habakkuk 3:10 The mountains saw You and quaked; torrents of water swept by. The deep roared with its voice and lifted its hands on high.