“But instead, as mountains fall and crumble and as rocks fall from a cliff,
Parallel translations
- WEB “But the mountain falling comes to nothing. The rock is removed out of its place;
- KJV And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.
- BSB But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and a rock is dislodged from its place,
- NKJV “But as a mountain falls and crumbles away, And as a rock is moved from its place;
- NASB ¶“But the falling mountain crumbles away, And the rock moves from its place;
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job notes that even mountains and rocks eventually crumble. Nothing in creation endures forever.
Overview
Job observes that 'the mountain falling comes to nothing' and rocks are moved from their place. The most enduring features of the earth wear away in time. He marshals these images to picture how God, over time, wears down even the strongest things, leading to his sober conclusion about human hope.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Rev 6:14The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
- Job 18:4You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place?
- Jer 4:24I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.
- Isa 54:10For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my loving kindness will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed,” says Yahweh who has mercy on you.
- Isa 41:15–16Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth. You will thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and will make the hills like chaff.
- Rev 20:11I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.
- Rev 8:8The second angel sounded, and something like a great burning mountain was thrown into the sea. One third of the sea became blood,
- Isa 64:1Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence.
- Isa 40:12Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
- Matt 27:51Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split.
- Ps 102:25–26Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 14:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.