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[a]The earth rocked and shook;
    the foundations of the mountains trembled;
    they shook as his wrath flared up.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 18:8–16 God appears in the storm, which in Palestine comes from the west. The introduction to the theophany (Ps 18:8–9) is probably a description of a violent, hot, and dry east-wind storm. In the fall transition period from the rainless summer to the rainy winter such storms regularly precede the rains, cf. Ex 14:21–22.

Smoke rose from his nostrils;(A)
    consuming fire(B) came from his mouth,
    burning coals(C) blazed out of it.

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Our God comes and will not be silent!
    Devouring fire precedes him,
    it rages strongly around him.(A)

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Our God comes(A)
    and will not be silent;(B)
a fire devours(C) before him,(D)
    and around him a tempest(E) rages.

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18 The clouds poured down their rains;
    the thunderheads rumbled;
    your arrows flashed back and forth.(A)

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18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind,(A)
    your lightning(B) lit up the world;
    the earth trembled and quaked.(C)

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Psalm 99[a]

The Holy King

I

The Lord is king, the peoples tremble;
    he is enthroned on the cherubim,[b] the earth quakes.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 99 A hymn to God as the king whose grandeur is most clearly seen on Mount Zion (Ps 99:2) and in the laws given to Israel (Ps 99:4). Israel is special because of God’s word of justice, which was mediated by the revered speakers, Moses, Aaron, and Samuel (Ps 99:6–8). The poem is structured by the threefold statement that God is holy (Ps 99:3, 5, 9) and by the twice-repeated command to praise (Ps 99:5, 9).
  2. 99:1 Enthroned on the cherubim: cherubim were composite beings with animal and human features, common in ancient Near Eastern art. Two cherubim were placed on the ark (or box) of the covenant in the holy of holies. Upon them God was believed to dwell invisibly, cf. Ex 25:20–22; 1 Sm 4:4; 2 Sm 6:2; Ps 80:2.

Psalm 99

The Lord reigns,(A)
    let the nations tremble;(B)
he sits enthroned(C) between the cherubim,(D)
    let the earth shake.

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[a](A)Lord, when you went out from Seir,
    when you marched from the plains of Edom,
The earth shook, the heavens poured,
    the clouds poured rain,
The mountains streamed,
    before the Lord, the One of Sinai,
    before the Lord, the God of Israel.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:4–5 The Lord himself marches to war in support of Israel. Storm and earthquake are part of the traditional imagery of theophany; cf. Ex 19:16, 18–20; Dt 33:2–3; Ps 18:7–15; 77:17–20; 144:5–7.

“When you, Lord, went out(A) from Seir,(B)
    when you marched from the land of Edom,
the earth shook,(C) the heavens poured,
    the clouds poured down water.(D)
The mountains quaked(E) before the Lord, the One of Sinai,
    before the Lord, the God of Israel.

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