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Psalm 18:13
The LORD also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire.
11He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
12At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire.
13The LORD also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire.
14He sent out his arrows, and scattered them. He routed them with great lightning bolts.
15Then the channels of waters appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
Notice
Thunder and burning coals make God's voice fearsome in David's song of rescue, leaving little room for a tame picture of divine power.
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Ezekiel 1:24When they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult like the noise of an army. …Ezekiel compares the wings' overwhelming sound to the Almighty's voice; Psalm 18 portrays God's voice through thunder.
Psalm 46:6The nations raged. The kingdoms were moved. He lifted his voice and the earth melted.Both psalms portray God's voice with earth-shaking force, through thunder and fire here and a melting earth in Psalm 46.
Exodus 9:23Moses stretched out his rod toward the heavens, and the LORD sent thunder and hail; and lightning flashed down to the earth. The LORD rained hail on the land …Thunder and hail accompany the LORD's action in both passages, with Exodus naming Egypt as the land struck.
Psalm 104:7At your rebuke they fled. At the voice of your thunder they hurried away.Both psalms connect God's voice with thunder, and their surrounding lines describe waters moving at his rebuke.
1 Samuel 7:10As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines came near to battle against Israel; but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day on …The LORD's thunder accompanies the scattering of enemies in Psalm 18 and the defeat of the Philistines in Samuel.
Revelation 8:5The angel took the censer, and he filled it with the fire of the altar, then threw it on the earth. Thunders, sounds, lightnings, and an earthquake followed.Thunder and fire appear in both scenes, though Revelation describes an angel casting altar fire onto the earth.
Jeremiah 51:16When he utters his voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the …Both passages connect God's uttered voice with tumult in the heavens, thunder in the psalm and roaring waters in Jeremiah.
Psalm 29:3–4The LORD’s voice is on the waters. The God of glory thunders, even the LORD on many waters.Both psalms identify thunder with the LORD's voice, portraying his majesty through the sound of the storm.
Psalm 140:10Let burning coals fall on them. Let them be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, from where they never rise.Burning coals appear in both psalms, as part of God's fearsome action here and a prayer for judgment in Psalm 140.
Jeremiah 10:13When he utters his voice, the waters in the heavens roar, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and …God's voice accompanies tumult in the sky in both passages, with Jeremiah describing heavenly waters roaring at his speech.
Job 36:29Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunderings of his pavilion?Both passages associate thunder with God, and Psalm 18's surrounding lines share Job's image of his pavilion among clouds.
Habakkuk 3:5Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet.The shared thread is God's fearsome presence: Psalm 18 depicts thunder and fire, while Habakkuk names plague and pestilence.
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One step
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Encouragement
David's rescue song names God as the Most High amid its terrifying images; the strength that scatters his enemies belongs to God.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).