Mazmur 77:18

77:18 Your thunderous voice was heard in the wind;

the lightning bolts lit up the world;

the earth trembled and shook. ¹ 

Mazmur 97:4-5

97:4 His lightning bolts light up the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

97:5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,

before the Lord of the whole earth.

Mazmur 104:32

104:32 He looks down on the earth and it shakes;

he touches the mountains and they start to smolder.

Ayub 9:6

9:6 he who shakes the earth out of its place ² 

so that its pillars tremble; ³ 

Ayub 26:11

26:11 The pillars ⁴  of the heavens tremble

and are amazed at his rebuke. ⁵ 

Yesaya 64:1-3

64:1 (63:19b) ⁶  If only you would tear apart the sky ⁷  and come down!

The mountains would tremble ⁸  before you!

64:2 (64:1) As when fire ignites dry wood,

or fire makes water boil,

let your adversaries know who you are, ⁹ 

and may the nations shake at your presence!

64:3 When you performed awesome deeds that took us by surprise, ¹⁰ 

you came down, and the mountains trembled ¹¹  before you.

Yeremia 5:22

5:22 “You should fear me!” says the Lord.

“You should tremble in awe before me! ¹² 

I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea,

a permanent barrier that it can never cross.

Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail.

They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary.” ¹³ 

Mikha 6:1-2

The Lord Demands Justice, not Ritual

6:1 Listen to what the Lord says:

“Get up! Defend yourself ¹⁴  before the mountains! ¹⁵ 

Present your case before the hills!” ¹⁶ 

6:2 Hear the Lord’s accusation, you mountains,

you enduring foundations of the earth!

For the Lord has a case against his people;

he has a dispute with Israel! ¹⁷ 

[77:18]  ¹ tn The prefixed verbal form may be taken as a preterite or as an imperfect with past progressive force.

[77:18]  sn Verses 16-18 depict the Lord coming in the storm to battle his enemies and subdue the sea. There is no record of such a storm in the historical account of the Red Sea crossing. The language the psalmist uses here is stereotypical and originates in Canaanite myth, where the storm god Baal subdues the sea in his quest for kingship. The psalmist has employed the stereotypical imagery to portray the exodus vividly and at the same time affirm that it is not Baal who subdues the sea, but Yahweh.

[9:6]  ² sn Shakes the earth out of its place probably refers to earthquakes, although some commentators protest against this in view of the idea of the pillars. In the ancient world the poetical view of the earth is that it was a structure on pillars, with water around it and under it. In an earthquake the pillars were shaken, and the earth moved.

[9:6]  ³ tn The verb הִתְפַלָּצ (hitfallats) is found only here, but the root seems clearly to mean “to be tossed; to be thrown about,” and so in the Hitpael “quiver; shake; tremble.” One of the three nouns from this root is פַּלָּצוּת (pallatsut), the “shudder” that comes with terror (see Job 21:6; Isa 21:4; Ezek 7:18; and Ps 55:6).

[26:11]  ⁴ sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 173) says these are the great mountains, perceived to hold up the sky.

[26:11]  ⁵ sn The idea here is that when the earth quakes, or when there is thunder in the heavens, these all represent God’s rebuke, for they create terror.

[64:1]  ⁶ sn In BHS the chapter division occurs in a different place from the English Bible: 64:1 ET (63:19b HT) and 64:2-12 (64:1-11 HT). Beginning with 65:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

[64:1]  ⁷ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[64:1]  ⁸ tn Or “quake.” נָזֹלּוּ (nazollu) is from the verbal root זָלַל (zalal, “quake”; see HALOT 272 s.v. II זלל). Perhaps there is a verbal allusion to Judg 5:5, the only other passage where this verb occurs. In that passage the poet tells how the Lord’s appearance to do battle caused the mountains to shake.

[64:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “to make known your name to your adversaries.” Perhaps the infinitive construct with preposition -לְ (lamed) should be construed with “come down” in v. 1a, or subordinated to the following line: “To make known your name to your adversaries, let the nations shake from before you.”

[64:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[for which] we were not waiting.”

[64:3]  ¹¹ tn See the note at v. 1.

[5:22]  ¹² tn Heb “Should you not fear me? Should you not tremble in awe before me?” The rhetorical questions expect the answer explicit in the translation.

[5:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “it.” The referent is made explicit to avoid any possible confusion.

[6:1]  ¹⁴ tn Or “plead your case” (NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “present your plea”; NLT “state your case.”

[6:1]  sn Defend yourself. The Lord challenges Israel to defend itself against the charges he is bringing.

[6:1]  ¹⁵ sn As in some ancient Near Eastern treaties, the mountains are personified as legal witnesses that will settle the dispute between God and Israel.

[6:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “let the hills hear your voice.”

[6:2]  ¹⁷ tn This verse briefly interrupts the Lord’s statement (see vv. 1, 3) as the prophet summons the mountains as witnesses. Because of this v. 2 has been placed in parentheses in the translation.