Psalms 46:3 [Though] the waters thereof roar [and] be troubled, [though] the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
Ver. 3. Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled] Heb. Be mudded; yet we will not fear, viz. with base distrustful fear, Ut omnes procellae horribili cum boatu circumsonent. Tauti est experientiam sensumque auxilii divini habere. The tempestuous rising and roaring of the sea is so terrible, that Aristotle saith, whosoever feareth it not is either mad or senseless (Ethic. 3. 7). Fear not, saith the angel to St Paul himself in that dreadful storm, Acts 27:24, which implieth that be was afraid with a natural fear; and he might be so without sin. An awful fear of God is consistent with faith; neither is any believer guilty of a stoic apathy. The very devils believe and tremble, James 2:19. The apostle's word there implieth that they roar as the sea roareth, and shriek horribly.
Though the mountains shake, &c.] As sometimes promontories fall with the force and impetuous beating of the sea upon them. Admit all this and more (whether in a sense literal or alle. gorical; set forth it is in a strain high and hyperbolic), yet we will bear up, and be bold to believe that all shall go well with us. Id quod Propheta miris verborum figuris additis iilustrat (Beza).