Verses 5-13, which form a doxology, or expression of praise to God, begin with a particle implying God as the subject, and in translation this should be made clear. In verses 1-12 God is actually named as the subject only in verse 2. In these verses of praise to God, Job shows that he knows as much theology as his friends. In Revised Standard Version verses 4-10 make up one long sentence. Because verse 5 begins a new subdivision of the text, it is important to begin verse 5 with a new sentence.

He who removes mountains: the picture is that of an earthquake, with the shaking of the pillars upon which the earth rests. In Psalm 75.3 the earth is shaken when God judges. Removes mountains may have to be expressed differently in some languages to say, for example, “shakes mountains,” “causes mountains to fall down,” “shakes down the mountains with an earthquake.” They know it not: in Revised Standard Version the literal rendering gives the meaning that the mountains do not know when they are moved or shaken by God. Good News Translation understands the verb know in an impersonal sense, implying “nobody knew what would happen,” and translates “Without warning.” Dhorme understands the object of the verb to be the following line, that is, the mountains “know not the one who has overturned them in his anger.” New English Bible takes the verb to mean “to be still or at rest” and translates “It is God who moves mountains, giving them no rest.” Some scholars prefer to follow the Syriac, which has “and he does not know it,” meaning that shaking mountains is such a common event that God could do so without even knowing it. Probably the best understanding is “suddenly,” or “before they knew anything about it,” and so the text is best expressed by Good News Translation “Without warning.” “Without warning” may be rendered “Without saying a word,” “Without telling anyone.”

When he overturns them in his anger: the verb translated overturns means to knock over, turn upside down. The word is used in connection with the destruction of Sodom in Genesis 19. The reference is to the violent action of turning the mountains over or causing them to collapse. Good News Translation “destroy” is less descriptive and more general. In his anger: in 4.9 Eliphaz speaks of God cutting off the wicked, literally, “by his nostril.” The same expression is used here and may suggest the picture of a hot blast of breath through the nostril. In some languages the expression in his anger must be expressed as a reason clause; for example, “when he overturns the mountains because he is angry” or “because of his anger he throws them down.”

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 .