The pillars of heaven tremble: in 9.6 Job speaks of the “pillars that support the earth.” Pillars of heaven refers to the distant mountains that support the dome of the heavens. In Greek mythology the Atlas Mountains served this function. (See the illustration on page 181.) Pillars are solid columns or supports for holding up a heavy object, such as the roof of a building. Tremble translates a word found only here, but from related languages and the context it is clear that these supports “tremble” or “shake.” Good News Translation has transposed a part of this line so that it becomes the consequence of the action in line b of Revised Standard Version.

And are astounded at his rebuke: the pillars of the first line are personified in that they are astounded, which translates a verb meaning to be “stupefied, stunned, shocked.” His rebuke translates a noun derived from a verb which means “threaten” when the object is the enemy or the physical elements, as it is here. By rearranging the lines as in Good News Translation, we may translate “When God threatens the mountains that hold up the sky, they are stunned and tremble with fear.” Since the cause for the shaking of the pillars is stated in line b, it will be more natural in some languages to transpose the two lines. Also in some cases the translator must state the object of God’s threat to the pillars; for example, “When God threatens to destroy the pillars that hold up the heavens” or “If God threatens to knock down the mountains that support the sky, they shake with fear.” If pillars and mountains may not be said to tremble with fear, it may be possible to shift to a simile and say, for example, “they tremble with fear like a frightened person.”

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 .