He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
Parallel translations
- WEB He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
- BSB He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smolder.
- 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 144:5Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
- Exod 19:18And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
- Ps 97:4–5His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.
- Hab 3:10The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.
- Ps 114:7Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
- Hab 3:5–6Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
- Jer 5:22Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
- Rev 20:11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
- Nah 1:5–6The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
- Amos 8:8Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.
- Ps 77:16The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.
- Jer 4:23–26I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
- Isa 64:1–2Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
- Ps 50:3Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
- Rev 19:3And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
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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.