In Hebrew the two verbs begin the first line, so that there is a bracketing structure in which earth and foundations of the heavens are enclosed at the beginning by reeled and rocked and at the end by trembled and quaked. The four verbs are similar in meaning, and the two lines are very similar, except for the earth being replaced by the more literary the foundations of the heavens.
This verse begins with a connecting word showing that the action is in response to a previous one, Then. It is important in translation to mark this connection, since it signals the start of a process that will continue until the end of verse 25.
The long description of Yahweh’s coming (verses 8-16) employs the kind of language associated with Yahweh’s appearance to his people on Mount Sinai (Exo 19.16-19; see also Judges 5.4-5; Psa 29.4-9; 144.5-6). The first picture is that of an earthquake, and there is a good alliterative effect in Hebrew, “the earth tegaʿash and tirʿash,” which certain translations try to reproduce: Revised Standard Version reeled and rocked; Knox “shivered and shook”; Traduction œcuménique de la Bible se troubla et trembla; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch wankte und schwankte. In some languages an earth tremor is expressed idiomatically as “the mountain roared” or “the volcano snored.”
The foundations of the heavens: some commentators take earth in line a to refer to Sheol, but that meaning is more probable in Psa 18.7 than it is here. Here the foundations of the heavens seems to have the same sense as “pillars of heaven” in Job 26.11. The reference is to the distant mountains that support the dome of the heavens in the ancient understanding of the universe. And indeed the parallel in Psa 18.7 says “the foundations of the mountains.”
The verb translated trembled occurs also in 7.10, where it is translated “be disturbed,” and in 18.33, where it is rendered “was deeply moved.” The verb quaked translates the same Hebrew verb translated reeled in line a of this verse. This Hebrew verb refers to back-and-forth motion.
He was angry: Good News Translation transforms the pronoun he into the noun “God,” but it leaves the statement in the third person. Contemporary English Version, on the other hand, uses a second person form, “You were angry,” in harmony with the forms of direct address used in verse 3. See the comments on pronoun shifts in the introduction to this chapter.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .