Science & Scripture · Geology

Stretching out a hand in anger can make hills tremble and shake.

Geology 25 passages in this field

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What current science says

A human arm generates about 2-5 joules of energy per gesture. A small earthquake (magnitude 2) releases about 63,000 joules — roughly the energy of rolling a bowling ball. A moderate earthquake (magnitude 5) releases the equivalent of 500 tons of TNT. Hills are geological formations weighing millions to billions of tons, anchored to tectonic plates. The energy gap between a hand gesture and mountain-shaking seismic activity is roughly 15 orders of magnitude. You'd need to multiply a hand wave's energy by one quadrillion to budge a hill.

What the text says

This comes from Isaiah 5:25. 'He hath stretched forth his hand against them, and the hills did tremble' — a gesture of anger causes literal seismic activity in mountains.

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