The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook.
Parallel Translations
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The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook.
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The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.
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(77-19) The voice of Thy thunder was in the whirlwind; the lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook.
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Psalms 77:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 97:4 His lightning lights up the world. The earth sees, and trembles.
- 2 Samuel 22:14 Yahweh thundered from heaven. The Most High uttered his voice.
- Revelation 11:19 God’s temple that is in heaven was opened, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant was seen in his temple. Lightnings, sounds, thunders, an earthquake, and great hail followed.
- Exodus 19:16 On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.
- Exodus 19:18 All of Mount Sinai smoked, because Yahweh descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
- Judges 5:4 “Yahweh, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the sky also dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water.
- 2 Samuel 22:8 Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.
- Job 37:1-5 “Yes, at this my heart trembles, and is moved out of its place. Hear, oh, hear the noise of his voice, the sound that goes out of his mouth. He sends it out under the whole sky, and his lightning to the ends of the earth. After it a voice roars. He thunders with the voice of his majesty. He doesn’t hold back anything when his voice is heard. God thunders marvelously with his voice. He does great things, which we can’t comprehend.
- Psalms 18:7 Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.
- Psalms 29:3-9 Yahweh’s voice is on the waters. The God of glory thunders, even Yahweh on many waters. Yahweh’s voice is powerful. Yahweh’s voice is full of majesty. Yahweh’s voice breaks the cedars. Yes, Yahweh breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young, wild ox. Yahweh’s voice strikes with flashes of lightning. Yahweh’s voice shakes the wilderness. Yahweh shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. Yahweh’s voice makes the deer calve, and strips the forests bare. In his temple everything says, “Glory!”
- Psalms 104:7 At your rebuke they fled. At the voice of your thunder they hurried away.
- Habakkuk 3:4 His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.
- Matthew 27:51 Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split.
- Matthew 28:2 Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it.
- Revelation 18:1 After these things, I saw another angel coming down out of the sky, having great authority. The earth was illuminated with his glory.
- Revelation 20:11 I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 77:18 The voice of thy thunder [was] in…
Psa 77:18 The voice of thy thunder [was] in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.
Ver. 18. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven] Heb. in the sphere or round orb of the air. Of the thunder in the air, see Job 37:2-5 Psa 29:1-11 This made the Egyptians say, Let us flee, for God fighteth for Israel against us.
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The lightnings lightened the world] Such flakes of fire there were with flashes of lightning, as darkened the sun, and made the whole heaven seem to be on a light fire.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain This tempest is not particularly recorded in its proper…
This tempest is not particularly recorded in its proper place, yet it may well be gathered from what is said Exo 14:24,25, and is in effect acknowledged by Josephus in his history. And this is no new thing in Scripture, for some circumstances of history omitted in the first and properest places to be supplied in following passages; whereof instances have been already given.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven,....…
The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven,.... Thunder is the voice of God, Job 37:5 this is heard in "the orb" (b), or the air, so called, because spherical; the Targum is
"the voice of thy thunder was heard in the wheel;''
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so the word here used sometimes signifies; so Eze 10:13, and is so rendered here by some (c); some think this refers to the wheels of the chariots of the Egyptians, which were taken off, it may be by the force of thunder and lightning, so that they drove on heavily, Exo 14:25,
the lightnings lightened the world; not only that part of the world where the Israelites and Egyptians were, but the whole world; for lightning comes out of the east, and shines to the west, Mat 24:27, this was in the night, and a very dark night it was, as Josephus (d) affirms; see Psa 97:4,
the earth trembled and shook; there was an earthquake at the same time; unless this is to be understood of the panic which the inhabitants of the earth were put into on hearing of this wonderful event, Jos 2:9.
(b) "in rotunditate", Montanus, Vatablus; "in isto orbe", Junius & Tremeullis; "in orbe", Cocceius; "in sphaera", Arab. (c) "In rota", Pagninus, Tigurine version, Musculus, Gejerus; "in rotis", Muis, Syr. vid. Suidam in voce (d) Ut supra. (Antiq. l. 2. c. 16. sect. 3.)
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven…
The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven - Compare the notes at Psa 29:1-11. The word rendered “heaven” here - גלגל galgal - means properly “a wheel,” as of a chariot, Isa 5:28; Eze 10:2, Eze 10:6; Eze 23:24; Eze 26:10. Then it means a “whirlwind,” as that which rolls along, Eze 10:13. Then it is used to denote chaff or stubble, as driven along before a whirlwind, Psa 83:13; Isa 17:13. It is never used to denote heaven. It means here, undoubtedly, the whirlwind; and the idea is, that in the ragings of the storm, or of the whirlwind, the voice of God was heard - the deep bellowing thunder - as if God spoke to people.
The lightnings lightened the world - The whole earth seemed to be in a blaze.
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The earth trembled and shook - See the notes at Psa 29:1-11.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 18. Earth trembled and shook—A description of an earthquake,…
18. Earth trembled and shook—A description of an earthquake, which associates literally with Sinai, not the Red Sea. See Exo_19:18; Exo_20:18; Heb_12:18-19
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 18. in the heaven] The word galgal, derived from…
18. in the heaven] The word galgal, derived from a root meaning to roll, was understood by the Jewish commentators to mean the vault or circuit of the heaven. More probably it should be rendered in the whirlwind (R.V.), or, with rumbling, the rolling of the thunder being conceived of as the rolling of God’s chariot-wheels. Cp. Hab_3:8.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (18) In the heavens.—Literally, in the vault. The Hebrew,…
(18) In the heavens.—Literally, in the vault. The Hebrew, galgal, from gâlal, “to roll,” has the same derivation as “vault” (volutum, from volvo). It is strange that this rendering, which so well suits the parallelism, should have been set aside by modern scholars in favour of “whirlwind” or “rolling chariot wheels.” The LXX. and Vulg. have “wheel,” but possibly with reference to the apparent revolution of the sky. The word, where it occurs in Isa_17:13, means something rolled by the whirlwind, not the whirlwind itself.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The voice of thy thunder was in the heavens;…
The voice of thy thunder was in the heavens; rather, in the whirlwind (Kay, Cheyne, Revised Version). A storm of wind usually accompanies thunder and lightning. This the author, with poetical exaggeration, heightens into a "whirlwind". (comp. Psa_83:13 Isa_17:13) The lightnings lightened the world. More hyperbole. Not only did they "go abroad" (ver. 17), darting hither and thither, but their intense brightness illuminated the whole earth. The earth trembled and shook. Through the reverberation of air, the earth seems to shake in a heavy thunderstorm.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 18. The voice of thy thunder was in…
Ver. 18. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven, or in the whirlwind. Rushing on with terrific swiftness and bearing all before it, the storm was as a chariot driven furiously, and a voice was heard (even thy voice, O Lord!) out of the fiery car, even as when a mighty man in battle urges forward his charger, and shouts to it aloud. All heaven resounded with the voice of the Lord.
The lightnings lightened the world. The entire globe shone in the blaze of Jehovah's lightnings. No need for other light amid the battle of that terrible night, every wave gleamed in the fire flashes, and the shore was lit up with the blaze. How pale were men's faces in that hour, when all around the fire leaped from sea to shore, from crag to hill, from mountain to star, till the whole universe was illuminated in honour of Jehovah's triumph.
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The earth trembled and shook. It quaked and quaked again. Sympathetic with the sea, the solid shore forgot its quiescence and heaved in dread. How dreadful art thou, O God, when thou comest forth in thy majesty to humble thine arrogant adversaries.
Whole Psalm. Whenever, and by whomsoever, the Psalm may have been written, it clearly is individual, not national. It utterly destroys all the beauty, all the tenderness and depth of feeling in the opening portion, if we suppose that the people are introduced speaking in the first person. The allusions to the national history may indeed show that the season was a season of national distress, and that the sweet singer was himself bowed down by the burden of the time, and oppressed by woes which he had no power to alleviate; but it is his own sorrow, not the sorrow of others under which he sighs, and of which he has left the pathetic record. J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 thunderous voice
thunderous voice
This is personification, referring to the thunder as the voice of God. AT: "voice, which was as loud as thunder" or "very loud voice" (See: Personification)
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lightning lit up the world
This is an exaggeration to emphasize that the lightning lit up everything the writer could see. AT: "lightning lit up everything as far as you could see" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
Your path ... your way
These two phrases have similar meanings and are combined for emphasis. (See: Doublet)
your footprints
Asaph is speaking of Yahweh as if Yahweh was a person with feet. While this is personification, it should be translated literally, if possible. (See: Personification)
your footprints were not seen
This can be stated in active form. AT: "no one saw your footprints" (See: Active or Passive)
You led your people like a flock
This simile compares God's people to a flock of animals. (See: Simile)
by the hand of
The phrase "by the hand of" here means "by the action of" or "through the action of."
hand
Here "hand" is synechdoche for the whole person. (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
voice
world
earth
water
flocks
hand
Moses
Aaron
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.