He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smolder.
Parallel translations
- WEB He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
- KJV He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
- NKJV He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the hills, and they smoke.
- NASB He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
- NLT The earth trembles at his glance; the mountains smoke at his touch.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God looks at the earth and it trembles; He touches the mountains and they smoke. Creation responds with awe to its sovereign Maker.
Overview
The psalmist depicts the earth quaking and mountains smoking at God's mere glance and touch, recalling the trembling of Sinai. Such imagery underscores His overwhelming majesty and power. Before this awesome God every knee will bow, for He has given all judgment to Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 144:5Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
- Exod 19:18Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
- Ps 97:4–5His lightning illuminates the world; the earth sees and trembles.
- Hab 3:10The mountains saw You and quaked; torrents of water swept by. The deep roared with its voice and lifted its hands on high.
- Ps 114:7Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
- Hab 3:5–6Plague went before Him, and fever followed in His steps.
- Jer 5:22Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot cross it.
- Rev 20:11Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.
- Nah 1:5–6The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers.
- Amos 8:8Will not the land quake for this, and all its dwellers mourn? All of it will swell like the Nile; it will surge and then subside like the Nile in Egypt.
- Ps 77:16The waters saw You, O God; the waters saw You and swirled; even the depths were shaken.
- Jer 4:23–26I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.
- Isa 64:1–2If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence,
- Ps 50:3Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him.
- Rev 19:3And a second time they called out: “Hallelujah! Her smoke rises forever and ever.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 104:32 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.