Psalm 104:32
 Psalm 104:32 
New International Version (©2011)
he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

New Living Translation (©2007)
The earth trembles at his glance; the mountains smoke at his touch.

English Standard Version (©2001)
who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke!

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smoke.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they pour out smoke.

International Standard Version (©2012)
He looks at the earth and it shakes; he touches the mountains and they smoke.

NET Bible (©2006)
He looks down on the earth and it shakes; he touches the mountains and they start to smolder.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
For he looks at the earth and it quakes and he rebukes the mountains and they smoke!

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
He looks on the earth, and it trembles: he touches the hills, and they smoke.

American King James Version
He looks on the earth, and it trembles: he touches the hills, and they smoke.

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

Douay-Rheims Bible
He looketh upon the earth, and maketh it tremble: he toucheth the mountains, and they smoke.

Darby Bible Translation
He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he toucheth the mountains, and they smoke.

English Revised Version
Who looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he toucheth the mountains, and they smoke.

Webster's Bible Translation
He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.

World English Bible
He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke.

Young's Literal Translation
Who is looking to earth, and it trembleth, He cometh against hills, and they smoke.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

104:31-35 Man's glory is fading; God's glory is everlasting: creatures change, but with the Creator there is no variableness. And if mediation on the glories of creation be so sweet to the soul, what greater glory appears to the enlightened mind, when contemplating the great work of redemption! There alone can a sinner perceive ground of confidence and joy in God. While he with pleasure upholds all, governs all, and rejoices in all his works, let our souls, touched by his grace, meditate on and praise him.


Pulpit Commentary

Verse 32. - He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth (comp. Psalm 18:7; Psalm 114:7). The earth "trembles," as knowing that it can be destroyed at any moment. He toucheth the hills, and they smoke; or, the mountains - the strongest portions of the earth (Psalm 36:6; Psalm 65:6) - "smoke" when he touches them (see Exodus 19:18; Deuteronomy 4:11; Psalm 144:5).


Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth,.... As Sinai did when he descended on it, Psalm 68:8, 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, &c. 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 (u). 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.

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


Psalm 104:32 Parallel Commentaries

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Psalm 104:32 KJV

Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


O Lord, My God, You are Very Great
31The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works. 32He looks on the earth, and it trembles: he touches the hills, and they smoke. 33I will sing to the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. …

Exodus 19:18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.
Judges 5:5 The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai, before the LORD, the God of Israel.
Psalm 97:4 His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles.
Psalm 97:5 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.
Psalm 114:7 Tremble, earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
Psalm 144:5 Part your heavens, LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
Amos 9:5 The Lord, the LORD Almighty-- he touches the earth and it melts, and all who live in it mourn; the whole land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt;
Habakkuk 3:10 the mountains saw you and writhed. Torrents of water swept by; the deep roared and lifted its waves on high.