The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded—hailstones and coals of fire.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire.
- KJV The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
- NKJV The Lord thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice, Hailstones and coals of fire.
- NASB The Lord also thundered in the heavens, And the Most High uttered His voice, Hailstones and coals of fire.
- NLT The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded amid the hail and burning coals.
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
Yahweh thunders from heaven as the Most High utters his voice. It matters because God's powerful voice in judgment defends his people.
Overview
David hears Yahweh thundering in the sky, the Most High lifting his voice amid hail and coals of fire. Thunder as God's voice signals his sovereign power directed against the wicked. The same God whose voice shakes the heavens speaks words of salvation and judgment that find their center in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 104:7At Your rebuke the waters fled; at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away—
- 1 Sam 7:10As the Philistines drew near to fight against Israel, Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering. But that day the LORD thundered loudly against the Philistines and threw them into such confusion that they fled before Israel.
- Ps 140:10May burning coals fall on them; may they be thrown into the fire, into the miry pits, never to rise again.
- Ps 29:3–4The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders; the LORD is heard over many waters.
- Deut 32:24They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.
- Hab 3:5Plague went before Him, and fever followed in His steps.
- Exod 20:18When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram’s horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance.
- Rev 19:6And I heard a sound like the roar of a great multitude, like the rushing of many waters, and like a mighty rumbling of thunder, crying out: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
- Rev 4:5From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder. Before the throne burned seven torches of fire. These are the seven Spirits of God.
- Job 40:9Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?
- Rev 8:5Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder, and rumblings, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
- Ps 78:48He abandoned their cattle to the hail and their livestock to bolts of lightning.
- Ps 120:3–4What will He do to you, and what will be added to you, O deceitful tongue?
- John 12:29The crowd standing there heard it and said that it had thundered. Others said that an angel had spoken to Him.
- Ezek 10:5The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 18:13 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.