79 Bible Verses about Theophany

The earth heaved and shook; the roots of the mountains trembled; they heaved because he was angry. Smoke ascended from his nose; fire devoured as it came from his mouth; he hurled down fiery coals. He made the sky sink as he descended; a thick cloud was under his feet.read more.
He mounted a winged angel and flew; he glided on the wings of the wind. He shrouded himself in darkness, in thick rain clouds. From the brightness in front of him came hail and fiery coals. The Lord thundered in the sky; the sovereign One shouted. He shot his arrows and scattered them, many lightning bolts and routed them. The depths of the sea were exposed; the inner regions of the world were uncovered by your battle cry, Lord, by the powerful breath from your nose.

On the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud horn; all the people who were in the camp trembled.

All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking -- and when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance.

God thunders with his voice in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.

The Lord's shout is heard over the water; the majestic God thunders, the Lord appears over the surging water. The Lord's shout is powerful, the Lord's shout is majestic. The Lord's shout breaks the cedars, the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon.read more.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf and Sirion like a young ox. The Lord's shout strikes with flaming fire. The Lord's shout shakes the wilderness, the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The Lord's shout bends the large trees and strips the leaves from the forests. Everyone in his temple says, "Majestic!"

Your thunderous voice was heard in the wind; the lightning bolts lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook.

His lightning bolts light up the world; the earth sees and trembles.

Look, the name of the Lord comes from a distant place in raging anger and awesome splendor. He speaks angrily and his word is like destructive fire. His battle cry overwhelms like a flooding river that reaches one's neck. He shakes the nations in a sieve that isolates the chaff; he puts a bit into the mouth of the nations and leads them to destruction. You will sing as you do in the evening when you are celebrating a festival. You will be happy like one who plays a flute as he goes to the mountain of the Lord, the Rock who shelters Israel.read more.
The Lord will give a mighty shout and intervene in power, with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire, with a driving rainstorm and hailstones. Indeed, the Lord's shout will shatter Assyria; he will beat them with a club. Every blow from his punishing cudgel, with which the Lord will beat them, will be accompanied by music from the tambourine and harp, and he will attack them with his weapons. For the burial place is already prepared; it has been made deep and wide for the king. The firewood is piled high on it. The Lord's breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone, will ignite it.

Amos said: "The Lord comes roaring out of Zion; from Jerusalem he comes bellowing! The shepherds' pastures wilt; the summit of Carmel withers."

The sun and moon stand still in their courses; the flash of your arrows drives them away, the bright light of your lightning-quick spear.

Then the Lord will appear above them, and his arrow will shoot forth like lightning; the Lord God will blow the trumpet and will sally forth on the southern storm winds.

Then the temple of God in heaven was opened and the ark of his covenant was visible within his temple. And there were flashes of lightning, roaring, crashes of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.

Now Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire, and its smoke went up like the smoke of a great furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.

For the burial place is already prepared; it has been made deep and wide for the king. The firewood is piled high on it. The Lord's breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone, will ignite it.

But the horde of invaders will be like fine dust, the horde of tyrants like chaff that is blown away. It will happen suddenly, in a flash. Judgment will come from the Lord who commands armies, accompanied by thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise, by a strong gale, a windstorm, and a consuming flame of fire.

O Lord, when you departed from Seir, when you marched from Edom's plains, the earth shook, the heavens poured down, the clouds poured down rain. The mountains trembled before the Lord, the God of Sinai; before the Lord God of Israel.

He takes his battle position and shakes the earth; with a mere look he frightens the nations. The ancient mountains disintegrate; the primeval hills are flattened. He travels on the ancient roads.

The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. He looked -- and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed!

Now the Lord was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel day or night.

Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in plain view of the people.

Then fire went out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar, and all the people saw it, so they shouted loudly and fell down with their faces to the ground.

then they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among this people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them by day in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night.

You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it and yet dark with a thick cloud. Then the Lord spoke to you from the middle of the fire; you heard speech but you could not see anything -- only a voice was heard.

The Lord spoke face to face with you at the mountain, from the middle of the fire.

As the flame went up from the altar toward the sky, the Lord's messenger went up in it while Manoah and his wife watched. They fell facedown to the ground. The Lord's messenger did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. After all this happened Manoah realized that the visitor had been the Lord's messenger. Manoah said to his wife, "We will certainly die, because we have seen a supernatural being!"

Fire goes before him; on every side it burns up his enemies.

I will produce portents both in the sky and on the earth -- blood, fire, and columns of smoke.

O Lord, make the sky sink and come down! Touch the mountains and make them smolder!

The sound of their voices shook the door frames, and the temple was filled with smoke.

Look, the name of the Lord comes from a distant place in raging anger and awesome splendor. He speaks angrily and his word is like destructive fire.

and the temple was filled with smoke from God's glory and from his power. Thus no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues from the seven angels were completed.

As Aaron spoke to the whole community of the Israelites and they looked toward the desert, there the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud,

The Lord said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and so that they will always believe in you." And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.

Moses went up the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord resided on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from within the cloud.

And whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses.

The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the Lord by name.

The Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud that stood above the door of the tent.

and the Lord said to Moses: "Tell Aaron your brother that he must not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil-canopy in front of the atonement plate that is on the ark so that he may not die, for I will appear in the cloud over the atonement plate.

On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle -- the tent of the testimony -- and from evening until morning there was a fiery appearance over the tabernacle. This is the way it used to be continually: The cloud would cover it by day, and there was a fiery appearance by night. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the Israelites would begin their journey; and in whatever place the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp.read more.
At the commandment of the Lord the Israelites would begin their journey, and at the commandment of the Lord they would make camp; as long as the cloud remained settled over the tabernacle they would camp. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days, then the Israelites obeyed the instructions of the Lord and did not journey. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, they remained camped according to the Lord's commandment, and according to the Lord's commandment they would journey. And when the cloud remained only from evening until morning, when the cloud was taken up the following morning, then they traveled on. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up they traveled. Whether it was for two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud prolonged its stay over the tabernacle, the Israelites remained camped without traveling; but when it was taken up, they traveled on.

Once the priests left the holy place, a cloud filled the Lord's temple. The priests could not carry out their duties because of the cloud; the Lord's glory filled his temple.

As I watched, I noticed a windstorm coming from the north -- an enormous cloud, with lightning flashing, such that bright light rimmed it and came from it like glowing amber from the middle of a fire.

(The cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.) Then the glory of the Lord arose from the cherub and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud while the court was filled with the brightness of the Lord's glory.

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my one dear Son, in whom I take great delight. Listen to him!"

Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came from the cloud, "This is my one dear Son. Listen to him!"

As he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. Then a voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him!"

Then I looked, and a white cloud appeared, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man! He had a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple, shouting in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, "Use your sickle and start to reap, because the time to reap has come, since the earth's harvest is ripe!" So the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

The Lord's angel found Hagar near a spring of water in the desert -- the spring that is along the road to Shur. He said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" She replied, "I'm running away from my mistress, Sarai." Then the Lord's angel said to her, "Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.read more.
I will greatly multiply your descendants," the Lord's angel added, "so that they will be too numerous to count." Then the Lord's angel said to her, "You are now pregnant and are about to give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your painful groans. He will be a wild donkey of a man. He will be hostile to everyone, and everyone will be hostile to him. He will live away from his brothers." So Hagar named the Lord who spoke to her, "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "Here I have seen one who sees me!"

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest time of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing across from him. When he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. He said, "My lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by and leave your servant.read more.
Let a little water be brought so that you may all wash your feet and rest under the tree. And let me get a bit of food so that you may refresh yourselves since you have passed by your servant's home. After that you may be on your way." "All right," they replied, "you may do as you say." So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, "Quick! Take three measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread." Then Abraham ran to the herd and chose a fine, tender calf, and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it. Abraham then took some curds and milk, along with the calf that had been prepared, and placed the food before them. They ate while he was standing near them under a tree. Then they asked him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" He replied, "There, in the tent." One of them said, "I will surely return to you when the season comes round again, and your wife Sarah will have a son!" (Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, not far behind him. Abraham and Sarah were old and advancing in years; Sarah had long since passed menopause.) So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, "After I am worn out will I have pleasure, especially when my husband is old too?" The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child when I am old?' Is anything impossible for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son." Then Sarah lied, saying, "I did not laugh," because she was afraid. But the Lord said, "No! You did laugh." When the men got up to leave, they looked out over Sodom. (Now Abraham was walking with them to see them on their way.) Then the Lord said, "Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? After all, Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations on the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using his name. I have chosen him so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Then the Lord will give to Abraham what he promised him." So the Lord said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so blatant that I must go down and see if they are as wicked as the outcry suggests. If not, I want to know." The two men turned and headed toward Sodom, but Abraham was still standing before the Lord.

So Jacob was left alone. Then a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he could not defeat Jacob, he struck the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob's hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him. Then the man said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." "I will not let you go," Jacob replied, "unless you bless me."read more.
The man asked him, "What is your name?" He answered, "Jacob." "No longer will your name be Jacob," the man told him, "but Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked, "Please tell me your name." "Why do you ask my name?" the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, explaining, "Certainly I have seen God face to face and have survived."

When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him holding a drawn sword. Joshua approached him and asked him, "Are you on our side or allied with our enemies?" He answered, "Truly I am the commander of the Lord's army. Now I have arrived!" Joshua bowed down with his face to the ground and asked, "What does my master want to say to his servant?" The commander of the Lord's army answered Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you stand is holy." Joshua did so.

In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the sovereign master seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple.

Isaiah said these things because he saw Christ's glory, and spoke about him.

Above the platform over their heads was something like a sapphire shaped like a throne. High above on the throne was a form that appeared to be a man.

As I watched, I saw on the platform above the top of the cherubim something like a sapphire, resembling the shape of a throne, appearing above them.

"While I was watching, thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His attire was white like snow; the hair of his head was like lamb's wool. His throne was ablaze with fire and its wheels were all aflame.

Immediately I was in the Spirit, and a throne was standing in heaven with someone seated on it!

Then I saw a large white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them.

Seraphs stood over him; each one had six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and they used the remaining two to fly.

In the fire were what looked like four living beings. In their appearance they had human form, but each had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight, but the soles of their feet were like calves' feet. They gleamed like polished bronze.read more.
They had human hands under their wings on their four sides. As for the faces and wings of the four of them, their wings touched each other; they did not turn as they moved, but went straight ahead. Their faces had this appearance: Each of the four had the face of a man, with the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left and also the face of an eagle. Their wings were spread out above them; each had two wings touching the wings of one of the other beings on either side and two wings covering their bodies. Each moved straight ahead -- wherever the spirit would go, they would go, without turning as they went. In the middle of the living beings was something like burning coals of fire or like torches. It moved back and forth among the living beings. It was bright, and lightning was flashing out of the fire. The living beings moved backward and forward as quickly as flashes of lightning. Then I looked, and I saw one wheel on the ground beside each of the four beings. The appearance of the wheels and their construction was like gleaming jasper, and all four wheels looked alike. Their structure was like a wheel within a wheel. When they moved they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved. Their rims were high and awesome, and the rims of all four wheels were full of eyes all around.

As I watched, I noticed four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; the wheels gleamed like jasper. As for their appearance, all four of them looked the same, something like a wheel within a wheel. When they moved, they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved; in the direction the head would turn they would follow without turning as they moved,read more.
along with their entire bodies, their backs, their hands, and their wings. The wheels of the four of them were full of eyes all around. As for their wheels, they were called "the wheelwork" as I listened.

and in front of the throne was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. In the middle of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second creature like an ox, the third creature had a face like a man's, and the fourth creature looked like an eagle flying. Each one of the four living creatures had six wings and was full of eyes all around and inside. They never rest day or night, saying: "Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God, the All-Powerful, Who was and who is, and who is still to come!"read more.
And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders throw themselves to the ground before the one who sits on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever, and they offer their crowns before his throne, saying: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, since you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created!"

and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear like the sky itself.

And the one seated on it was like jasper and carnelian in appearance, and a rainbow looking like it was made of emerald encircled the throne.

Then the glory of the Lord arose from the cherub and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud while the court was filled with the brightness of the Lord's glory.

The glory of the Lord resided on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from within the cloud.

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

Moses and Aaron then entered into the Meeting Tent. When they came out, they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Then fire went out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar, and all the people saw it, so they shouted loudly and fell down with their faces to the ground.

However, the whole community threatened to stone them. But the glory of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting.

The priests could not carry out their duties because of the cloud; the Lord's glory filled his temple.

When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the Lord's splendor filled the temple. The priests were unable to enter the Lord's temple because the Lord's splendor filled the Lord's temple. When all the Israelites saw the fire come down and the Lord's splendor over the temple, they got on their knees with their faces downward toward the pavement. They worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, "Certainly he is good; certainly his loyal love endures!"

The Lord's shout is heard over the water; the majestic God thunders, the Lord appears over the surging water.

Dark clouds surround him; equity and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him; on every side it burns up his enemies. His lightning bolts light up the world; the earth sees and trembles.read more.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of the whole earth. The sky declares his justice, and all the nations see his splendor.

Then the cherubim spread their wings with their wheels alongside them while the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them. The glory of the Lord rose up from within the city and stopped over the mountain east of it.

The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he departed. When the cloud departed from above the tent, Miriam became leprous as snow. Then Aaron looked at Miriam, and she was leprous!

The Lord thundered in the sky; the sovereign One shouted. He shot his arrows and scattered them, many lightning bolts and routed them. The depths of the sea were exposed; the inner regions of the world were uncovered by your battle cry, Lord, by the powerful breath from your nose.

All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking -- and when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance. They said to Moses, "You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die." Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you so that you do not sin."

I said, "Too bad for me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin, and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies."

I heard the voice of the sovereign master say, "Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?" I answered, "Here I am, send me!"

And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent; he then called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. The Lord said, "Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream. My servant Moses is not like this; he is faithful in all my house.read more.
With him I will speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles; and he will see the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"