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Judges 5:4
LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.

Psalm 18:7
Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.

Psalm 77:18
The voice of thy thunderwas in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.

foundations

Job 26:11
The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.

Nahum 1:5
The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

the foundations of the heavens trembled;
The "foundations of the heavens" is a poetic expression indicating the very structure of the cosmos being affected. This phrase suggests that God's anger and power are so immense that they reach beyond the earthly realm into the heavens. In ancient Near Eastern cosmology, the heavens were seen as a solid dome over the earth, and their trembling signifies a cosmic disturbance. This imagery is echoed in prophetic literature, such asIsaiah 13:13, where cosmic upheaval accompanies divine judgment.

they were shaken because He burned with anger.
God's anger here is depicted as a consuming force that causes the natural world to react violently. This anthropomorphic description of God "burning with anger" conveys His intense displeasure and righteous indignation, often in response to sin or injustice. The shaking of the earth and heavens serves as a metaphor for the upheaval that God's judgment brings. This concept is seen throughout Scripture, where God's wrath leads to both physical and spiritual consequences (Nahum 1:5-6,Revelation 6:12-14). The passage reflects the seriousness of divine judgment and the ultimate authority of God over all creation.

David recalls a moment when God rose to defend him so powerfully that creation itself responded.

•Psalm 18:7 (parallel passage) echoes, “Then the earth shook and quaked; the foundations of the mountains trembled; they were shaken because He burned with anger.”

•Exodus 19:18 shows the earth trembling when the LORD descended on Sinai, underscoring that heavenly visitations often register in the natural order.

•Habakkuk 3:6 portrays the same imagery: mountains shattered and hills bowed when God marches forth.

The shaking is not poetic exaggeration but a literal sign of divine intervention; the Creator who fixed the earth in place (Psalm 104:5) can just as certainly jar it loose.

The description reaches beyond surface quakes to the “foundations,” the very underpinnings of created order.

•Job 38:4–6 speaks of God laying earth’s foundation stones, reinforcing that He alone can unsettle them.

•Isaiah 24:18 anticipates a day when “the foundations of the earth shake,” linking cosmic instability to God’s righteous judgment.

•Revelation 6:12–14 pictures the sky recoiling and mountains moving when the Lamb opens the sixth seal, affirming that heaven and earth respond in unison to divine wrath.

David’s language assures us that no realm—earthly or heavenly—is beyond God’s reach.

The repetition emphasizes sustained disturbance, not a momentary tremor.

•Haggai 2:6–7 promises God will “once more shake the heavens and the earth” so that what is unshakable—His kingdom—remains (cf.Hebrews 12:26–28).

•Nahum 1:5 records mountains quaking and hills dissolving as the LORD passes by, illustrating the ongoing character of His judgment against evil.

For the believer, such shaking purifies, clearing away every obstacle to God’s saving purpose.

God’s wrath is holy, righteous, and intensely personal toward sin and injustice.

•Deuteronomy 32:22 warns, “A fire is kindled in My anger” that reaches to the depths.

•Psalm 7:11 declares that “God is a righteous judge, a God who is angry with the wicked every day.”

•Nahum 1:2–3 calls Him “a jealous and avenging God,” yet “slow to anger,” revealing wrath as the measured response of a longsuffering Father defending His covenant people.

David experienced this anger on his behalf: the same fire that consumes the wicked also liberates the faithful.

2 Samuel 22:8 portrays the Lord rising in blazing wrath to rescue David. Earth, heaven, and every foundation tremble, proving that nothing stands immovable when God moves. His anger is not capricious but the righteous heat of covenant love, shaking creation to protect His own and uphold justice. The passage anchors our confidence that the God who once shook the earth for David still rules every realm and will one day shake all things again—leaving an unshakable kingdom for His people.

"And the earth quaked and trembled;
The foundations of the heavens shook,
And quaked because he was wroth.
A smoke went up in his nostril,

And fire out of his mouth devoured;
Red hot cinders burned from him.
And he bowed the heavens and came down,
And darkness was under his feet." In describing the manifestation of God for his deliverance, David bore in mind and repeated the description of God's descent to earth given inExodus 19:16, 18. But the poetic vigour of David's imagination intensities the imagery, and makes it more grand and startling. Not merely is there the earthquake and the volcano and the storm cloud, but the dim form of the Almighty is present, with the smoke of just anger at unrighteousness ascending from his nostrils, and the lightnings flashing forth to execute his wrath. But David certainly intended that these metaphors should remain ideal; and it was quite unnecessary for the Targum carefully to eliminate all such expressions as seem to give the Almighty bureau shape. In so doing it merely changes poetry into prose. But even more dull and commonplace is the explanation given by some modern commentators, that all that is meant is that David was once saved by a thunderstorm from some danger or other. Really this glorious imagery, taken from all that is grandest on earth, is intended to magnify to us the spiritual conception of God's justice coming forth to visit the earth and do right and equity. In ver. 8 for "the foundations of the heavens," we find inPsalm 18:7 "the foundations of the hills." The former is the grander metaphor, and signifies the mighty mountain ranges, like those of Lebanon, on which the skies seem to rest.The smoke signifies hailstorms and, perhaps, also the rain driven in wreaths along the ground by the wind.Red hot cinders burned from him describes the flashing lightnings that were shot forth like the coals from the refiner's furnace when heated to the full. It is to be regretted that the Revised Version retains the bathos of the old rendering, that God's fiery breath set coals on fire.

Parallel Commentaries ...