This verse again picks up the comparison from nature. The mountain and rock are frequently used images of strength and security. The tone is again pessimistic and compares the wearing away of the mountain and rock to the destruction of “man’s hope” in verse 19.

But the mountain falls and crumbles away: Job has apparently given up his vision of a temporary stay in Sheol. This line begins with a term marking strong contrast, which can be rendered in English “But on the other hand” or “in spite of all this.” The word translated crumbles away has the sense of “fade” as applied to flowers and withering leaves. The word is not normally used of a mountain, but for the poet it contains an allusion to the opening comparison in verse 2. The poet’s intention is to say that what is solid and permanent is no different than the fading flower. The line may also be expressed, for example, “But even mountains fall apart” or “But even the highest and strongest hills are shaken down.”

And the rock is removed from its place: line b repeats the same message as line a. It shows typical parallelism in which the smaller image is placed in the second line. Removed from its place is better rendered “dislodged from its place” as in New English Bible. Good News Translation and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy have shifted from rock to “cliffs” to relate the imagery of the two lines more closely. In languages in which the passive is not used, it may be necessary to express line b as an active construction; for example, “and the rocks tumble down” or “and the cliffs fall from their places.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .