Literally, “a trembling of God [’elohim]” (see KJV margin). The word ’elohim here refers to the intensity of the quake, and reflects the terror and confusion that prevailed. The word ’elohim is occasionally used thus as a superlative (see on Gen. 23:6; 30:8). The earthquake was, to be sure, an act of divine intervention (see PP 623). God often interposed by making use of the forces of nature, as at the Red Sea (Ex. 14:21-28), at the Valley of Aijalon (Joshua 10:11-14), at Ebenezer, when the Philistines were worsted (1 Sam. 7:10), and upon other occasions.