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Psalm 29:8
The LORD’s voice shakes the wilderness. The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
6He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young, wild ox.
7The LORD’s voice strikes with flashes of lightning.
8The LORD’s voice shakes the wilderness. The LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9The LORD’s voice makes the deer calve, and strips the forests bare. In his temple everything says, “Glory!”
10The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood. Yes, the LORD sits as King forever.
Notice
The repeated word “shakes” makes the wilderness of Kadesh feel less immovable, confronting the reader with the force of YHWH’s voice.
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What changes in your reading when the wilderness is named as Kadesh?
Write on thisHow does a voice that shakes wilderness compare with the way you tend to picture God?
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Where else Scripture says this
11 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
Numbers 13:26They went and came to Moses, to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to …Both passages name Kadesh in a wilderness setting; Numbers places the congregation there when the report and fruit arrive.
Genesis 20:1Abraham traveled from there toward the land of the South, and lived between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a foreigner in Gerar.Kadesh is the shared place name, marking the wilderness in the psalm and a boundary of Abraham’s dwelling area in Genesis.
Psalm 46:3though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling. Selah.Both passages depict a trembling landscape: the wilderness shakes in Psalm 29, while mountains tremble amid troubled waters in Psalm 46.
Psalm 18:7Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.Both describe land shaking under God's power; Psalm 18 names his anger, while Psalm 29 emphasizes his voice.
Job 9:6He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.God shakes the wilderness in Psalm 29 and the earth itself in Job; both portray the ground yielding to his power.
Isaiah 13:13Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place in the LORD of Armies’ wrath, and in the day of his fierce anger.Both passages attribute the shaking of land to the LORD; Isaiah also names trembling heavens and his fierce anger.
Numbers 20:1The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month. The people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and …Both name Kadesh in a wilderness setting; Numbers records Israel staying there and Miriam dying and being buried there.
Haggai 2:21“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, ‘I will shake the heavens and the earth.The LORD shakes the wilderness in the psalm and declares that he will shake the heavens and earth in Haggai.
Hebrews 12:26whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.”Both connect God's voice with shaking the earth; Hebrews also speaks of his promise to shake the heavens.
Haggai 2:6For this is what the LORD of Armies says: ‘Yet once more, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land;Both describe the LORD shaking creation, with Haggai extending the scope to heavens, earth, sea, and dry land.
Joel 3:16The LORD will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but the LORD will be a refuge to his people, and a …Both link the LORD’s voice to a shaking landscape; Joel describes his roar and thunder as heavens and earth shake.
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One step
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Encouragement
The wilderness trembles under God's voice. Its vastness does not put it beyond his rule; the surrounding psalm names him King forever.
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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).