At whom all things shudder, and tremble before thy power: The two verbs used here have connotations of trembling in fear and awe. Thy power is literally “face of your power.” When confronted with God’s power (Good News Translation “When you show your power”), everything trembles in fear, as one can observe by looking at the surface of the sea. “All creation [all created things]” in Good News Translation is a good translation for all things; it is consistent with the theme being developed. “When you show your power” does shift the focus a bit if by “show your power,” Good News Translation means “exercise your power.” It is not that the created order trembles at the effect of what God’s power has done; rather, creation trembles at the threat of God’s power, at the certain prospect of what it can do. See the comments on the second line of verse 5. So alternative renderings for this verse are:

• All creation trembles with fear
when you are about to show your power.

• All created things tremble with fear
when you threaten to show your power.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see