2 Samuel 22:8

The earth heaved and shook; ¹  the foundations of the sky ²  trembled. ³  They heaved because he was angry.

Jud 5:4; Job 26:11; Ps 18:7; Ps 77:18; Ps 97:4; Na 1:5; Hab 3:6-11; Mt 27:51; Mt 28:2; Ac 4:31

¹ tn The earth heaved and shook. The imagery pictures an earthquake, in which the earth’s surface rises and falls. The earthquake motif is common in Old Testament theophanies of God as warrior and in ancient Near eastern literary descriptions of warring gods and kings. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 160-62.

² tn Ps 18:7 reads “the roots of the mountains.”

³ tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. Note the three prefixed verbal forms with vav consecutive in the verse.