Psalms 104:32

32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

Psalms 104:32 in Other Translations

32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.

32 who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke!

32 The earth trembles at his glance; the mountains smoke at his touch.

32 He takes one look at earth and triggers an earthquake, points a finger at the mountains, and volcanoes erupt.

32 Who looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; He toucheth the mountains, and they smoke.

32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke.

32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they pour out smoke.

32 When he looks at the earth, it trembles. When he touches the mountains, they pour out smoke.

Psalms 104:32 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 104:32

He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth
As Sinai did when he descended on it, ( Psalms 68:8 ) ( 77:18 ) , to which the allusion seems to be; and a look from him, a severe one, a frowning one, will make the inhabitants of the earth to tremble; a providential look, sending famine, pestilence or the sword among them. A displeased look will make the hearts of his own children tremble, as no doubt Peter's did, when the Lord looked upon him, and he remembered his word; and if a look, much more a word, an awful word, as his voice in the law, pronouncing such cursed as keep it not; and especially the tremendous sentence he will pronounce on the wicked at the last day,

go, ye cursed
and if a look and a word are so terrible, what will be the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger upon those who have refused to give him glory? For the words seem to carry in them a reason why he should be glorified, taken from the consequence of not glorifying him, who has such a majesty in his looks, such a terror in his countenance, and such power in his hands.

He toucheth the hills, and they smoke;
as Sinai likewise did, when he was upon it, ( Exodus 19:18 ) , and as other hills do, when touched with lightning; the tops of mountains, the higher they are, the sooner and the more they smoke ^F21. God, with a touch of his hand, can set mountains on fire, open "volcanos", and cause them to burn for years together; as Etna, Vesuvius, Hecla, and others: and how easily can he set on fire the course of nature, burn the world, and all that is in it! It is but touching it, and it takes fire immediately: this he can as easily do as a man can light a torch or a candle; and as easily can he destroy sinners with the fire of his wrath, or cast them into everlasting fire, with the devil and his angels, which will burn to the lowest hell; and what are hills and mountains, or the greatest personages on earth, if he does but touch them, or lay his hand upon them in wrath? They are crushed as the moth; they are nothing before our great Zerubbabel.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 "Montis vicina cacumina coelo----Tanto "magis edita fumant", Lucret. de Rerum Natura, l. 6. v. 458, 459.

Psalms 104:32 In-Context

30 When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.

31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works—

32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

34 May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the LORD.

Cross References

• 1. S Psalms 97:4
• 2. S Exodus 19:18
• 3. Psalms 144:5