Job 9:5

King James Version (KJV)

Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger.

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

Removeth the mountains, and they know not - This seems to refer to earthquakes. By those strong convulsions, mountains, valleys, hills, even whole islands, are removed in an instant; and to this latter circumstance the words, they know not, most probably refer. The work is done in the twinkling of an eye; no warning is given; the mountain, that seemed to be as firm as the earth on which it rested, was in the same moment both visible and invisible; so suddenly was it swallowed up.

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

Which removeth the mountains - In order to show how vain it was to contend with God, Job refers to some exhibitions of his power and greatness. The “removal of the mountains” here denotes the changes which occur in earthquakes and other violent convulsions of nature. This illustration of the power of God is often referred to in the Scriptures; compare Judges 5:5; 1 Kings 19:11; Psalm 65:6; Psalm 114:4; Psalm 144:5; Isaiah 40:12; Jeremiah 4:24.

And they know not - This is evidently a Hebraism, meaning suddenly, or unexpectedly. He does it, as it were, before they are aware of it. A similar expression occurs in the Koran, “God overturns them, and they do not know it;” that is, he does it without their suspecting any such thing; compare Psalm 35:8. “Let destruction come upon him at unawares,” or, as it is in the Hebrew and in the margin, “which he knoweth not of.” Tindal renders this, “He translatethe the mountaynes or ever they be aware.”

Which overturneth them in his anger - As if he were enraged. There could scarcely be any more terrific exhibition of the wrath of God than the sudden and tremendous violence of an earthquake.

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

In this answer Job declared that he did not doubt the justice of God, when he denied himself to be a hypocrite; for how should man be just with God? Before him he pleaded guilty of sins more than could be counted; and if God should contend with him in judgment, he could not justify one out of a thousand, of all the thoughts, words, and actions of his life; therefore he deserved worse than all his present sufferings. When Job mentions the wisdom and power of God, he forgets his complaints. We are unfit to judge of God's proceedings, because we know not what he does, or what he designs. God acts with power which no creature can resist. Those who think they have strength enough to help others, will not be able to help themselves against it.

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Ellen G. White
Patriarchs and Prophets, 328

The answer was, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” But Moses was not yet satisfied. There pressed upon his soul a sense of the terrible results should God leave Israel to hardness and impenitence. He could not endure that his interests should be separated from those of his brethren, and he prayed that the favor of God might be restored to His people, and that the token of His presence might continue to direct their journeyings: “If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? is it not in that Thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.” PP 328.1

And the Lord said, “I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in My sight, and I know thee by name.” Still the prophet did not cease pleading. Every prayer had been answered, but he thirsted for greater tokens of God's favor. He now made a request that no human being had ever made before: “I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory.” PP 328.2

God did not rebuke his request as presumptuous; but the gracious words were spoken, “I will make all My goodness pass before thee.” The unveiled glory of God, no man in this mortal state can look upon and live; but Moses was assured that he should behold as much of the divine glory as he could endure. Again he was summoned to the mountain summit; then the hand that made the world, that hand that “removeth the mountains, and they know not” (Job 9:5), took this creature of the dust, this mighty man of faith, and placed him in a cleft of the rock, while the glory of God and all His goodness passed before him. PP 328.3

This experience—above all else the promise that the divine Presence would attend him—was to Moses an assurance of success in the work before him; and he counted it of infinitely greater worth than all the learning of Egypt or all his attainments as a statesman or a military leader. No earthly power or skill or learning can supply the place of God's abiding presence. PP 328.4

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Ellen G. White
Selected Messages Book 3, 312.2

The Lord had given evidence that by His power He could in one short hour dissolve the whole frame of nature. He can turn things upside down, and destroy the things that man has built up in his most firm and substantial manner. He “removeth the mountains,” He “overturneth them in his anger,” He “shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.” “The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.” “The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence.”—Manuscript 127, 1897. 3SM 312.2

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Cross References

removeth