His lightnings light the world; The earth sees and trembles.
Parallel translations
- WEB His lightning lights up the world. The earth sees, and trembles.
- KJV His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.
- BSB His lightning illuminates the world; the earth sees and trembles.
- NASB His lightning lit up the world; The earth saw it and trembled.
- NLT His lightning flashes out across the world. The earth sees and trembles.
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's lightning illumines the world, and the earth trembles at the sight. Creation itself responds in awe to its King.
Overview
The psalmist uses the storm imagery common in descriptions of God's majestic appearing, where lightning displays His power and the earth shakes in fear. Such language echoes Sinai and other theophanies, conveying that no part of creation is unmoved by God's presence. It calls readers to reverent fear before the One who governs the heavens and the earth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 77:18The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook.
- Rev 11:19God’s temple that is in heaven was opened, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant was seen in his temple. Lightnings, sounds, thunders, an earthquake, and great hail followed.
- Exod 19:16–18On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.
- Job 9:6He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.
- Ps 104:32He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
- Jer 10:10But Yahweh is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to withstand his indignation.
- Ps 144:5–6Part your heavens, Yahweh, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke.
- Matt 27:50–51Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.
- Rev 19:11I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called Faithful and True. In righteousness he judges and makes war.
- Ps 96:9Worship Yahweh in holy array. Tremble before him, all the earth.
- Ps 114:7Tremble, you earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
- Matt 28:2–3Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it.
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 97:4 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.