Meaning of EARTHQUAKE

Earthquake. During great earthquakes, in places where the shaking is most violent, the hills shake (Jer. 4:24); the very foundations of the earth are shaken (Ps. 18:7); cracks appear in the earth's crust (Zech. 14:4, 5);

cracks open and close into which one can fall (Num. 16:31-33); The houses crack and collapse on their inhabitants; If the sea is close, it sometimes leaves its bed, rushing onto the land in an enormous wave of water that demolishes and destroys everything in its path.

In the time of Uzziah and Jeroboam II, Judea suffered a terrible earthquake (Am. 1:1; Zech. 14:5; Ant. 9:10, 4). In the seventh year of Herod the Great there was another great earthquake that caused the death of more than ten thousand people and many livestock (Ant. 15:5, 2).

An earthquake, accompanied by darkness, marked the death of Christ (Mt. 27:45, 51:54), and another similar shaking marked his resurrection (Mt. 28:2). An earthquake occurred in Macedonia while Paul and Silas were in prison at Philippi (Acts 16:26).

A worsening of earthquakes is announced among the signs of Christ's return (Mt. 24:7; Lk. 21:11; cf. Rev. 6:12; 11:13; 16:18).