Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it,.... As is frequently done by an earthquake; which, whatever natural causes there may be of it, is always to be ascribed to God. The ancient Heathens (m) were of opinion that all earthquakes were of God. This respects not the whole earth, but the land of Israel only; and so the Targum, "thou hast moved the land of Israel, thou hast shaken and rent it;'' and it does not design a natural earthquake in it, but a figurative one; a shaking and rending of their civil and church state; see Heb 12:26; heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh; which will be done in the latter day, when they shall return into their own land, and be restored as at the beginning, Isa 30:30. (m) A. Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 2. c. 28.