Bible Dictionaries
Earthquake

　　EARTHQUAKE.—Palestine abounds in traces of seismic and volcanic action. From the region of the Dead Sea northward along the Jordan valley and as far as Damascus the whole country must have been visited by tremendous earthquakes in prehistoric ages. Mention of several is made in the OT, sometimes coupled with significant reference to serious disaster and widespread alarm caused by them (1 Samuel 14:15, Amos 1:1, Zechariah 14:5 etc.). Regarded as supernatural visitations, signs of the times, they produced a deep impression.

　　Five times in the Gospels the noun ἡ γῆ ἐσεισθη (Authorized and Revised Versions ‘the earth did quake’). In LXX Septuagint רִעִשׁ of the original. Though specifically applied to an earthquake, [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.] , see Index; Gould, ‘St. Mark’ in Internat. Crit. Com.; Cary, ‘The Synoptic Gospels’ in Internat. Handbooks to NT.

　　H. L. Jackson.