16:20a

Then every island fled: This clause indicates in a poetic way that the islands sank into the sea. The earthquake caused them to sink. For example:

All the islands disappeared. (Good News Translation)

16:20b

and no mountain could be found: This clause indicates that the earthquake caused the mountains to crumble and fall down. The reason that no mountain could be found was because they were not there any longer. This is a passive clause. Some languages must use an active or intransitive clause. For example:

⌊no one⌋ could find the mountains
-or-
the mountains disappeared (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
all the mountains vanished (Good News Translation)

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