Psalms 18:7

The earth heaved and shook; ¹  the roots of the mountains ²  trembled; ³  they heaved because he was angry.

The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry.

Then the earth shook and quaked; And the foundations of the mountains were trembling And were shaken, because He was angry.

Then the earth quaked and trembled; the foundations of the mountains shook; they quaked because of his anger.

Earth wobbles and lurches; huge mountains shake like leaves, Quake like aspen leaves because of his rage.

Then trouble and shock came on the earth; and the bases of the mountains were moved and shaking, because he was angry.

Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry.

Then the earth shook and trembled; The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken, Because He was angry.

The earth heaved and shook; ¹  the roots of the mountains ²  trembled; ³  they heaved because he was angry.

¹ sn 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 OT 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 2 Sam 22:8 has “heavens” which forms a merism with “earth” in the preceding line. The “foundations of the heavens” would be the mountains. However, the reading “foundations of the mountains” has a parallel in Deut 32:22.

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 (ו) consecutive in the verse.