Job 9:6

Job 9:6 Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.

Ver. 6. Which shaketh the earth out of her place] By mighty earthquakes, dislocating the earth, some part of it; for the whole was never removed, though God can take up the whole globe as a man would do a ball, tossing the very centre itself whereon it is established, 2Sa 22:8, &c. There is a twofold power of God; 1. Absolute. 2. Actual. By the former he can do more than he doth: by the latter, whatsoever he willeth, that without impediment he effecteth. As for the earth, as God upholdeth it by the word of his power, Heb 1:3, so he hath poised it merely by its own weight, that it should not be removed for ever, Psa 104:5. For if you imagine that the earth could be removed out of its natural place, which way soever it be removed, it shall move towards heaven, and so shall naturally ascend; but to do so is utterly repugnant to the nature of the earth, which is to bear downward. All which, notwithstanding, the God of nature, as he is in the heaven, so he doth whatsoever he will in heaven and earth.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He declareth what is the infirmity of man, by the mighty and incomprehensible power that is in God, showing what he could do if he would set forth his power.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The earth is regarded, poetically, as resting on pillars, which tremble in an earthquake (Psa 75:3; Isa 24:20). The literal truth as to the earth is given (Job 26:7).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. The pillars thereof tremble.] This also refers to an earthquake, and to that tremulous motion which sometimes gives warning of the approaching catastrophe, and from which this violent convulsion of nature has received its name. Earthquakes, in Scripture language, signify also violent commotions and disturbances in states; mountains often signify rulers; sun, empires; stars, petty states. But it is most likely that the expressions here are to be understood literally.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. The reference is probably to earthquakes. The earth is conceived as a structure supported on pillars, ch. Job_38:6; Psa_75:3. The conception was poetical; if the pillars were supposed anything actual, they were probably the roots of the great mountains which extended downwards and bore up the earth, as the part of them above the earth supported the heavens.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not,.... Either he could do it if he would, by a word speaking, as he ordered it to stand still in the times of Joshua, Jos 10:13, and caused the shadow to return ten degrees it had gone back in the dial of Ahaz, in the times of Hezekiah, Kg2 20:11; or else the sense is, it rises not at any other time and place but when and where he commands it; or he commands it not to rise in the same place at one time of the year as at another, and it rises not; or this may be understood of eclipses, or of its being covered with clouds in tempestuous weather for a considerable time together, when it seems as if it was not risen: some think this respects the three days' darkness in Egypt, when the Israelites were there, Exo 10:22, which was a little before, or about the time of Job; or rather it refers to the general flood, in the times of Noah, when it rained forty days and forty nights, Gen 7:12, during which time the sun appeared not, and so seemed as if it was not risen; see Amo 8:9; Herodotus (b) relates, from the memoirs of the Egyptians, that the sun rose four times out of its usual course; twice it rose where it now sets, and twice it set where it now rises:

and sealeth up the stars: either by the light of the sun in the daytime, which hides them that they are not visible, or by dark clouds and tempestuous weather in the night; such a season as that was in which the Apostle Paul and the mariners with him were, when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, Act 27:20, and so the Targum paraphrases it, and"sealeth up the stars with clouds;''this may also refer to the time of the flood, during the rain of forty days and nights, Gen 7:4; or to the annual motion of the sun through the ecliptic, which makes the point of the sun's rising and setting vary, and is the reason why some stars appear in summer and are sealed up in winter, and others that are seen in winter are not visible in summer; and so Cocceius interprets it.

(b) Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 149.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Which shaketh the earth out of her place - This evidently refers to violent convulsions of nature, as if the earth were to be taken away. Objects on the earth’s surface become displaced, and convulsion seems to seize the world. The Septuagint renders this, “who shaketh that which is under the heavens from its foundations” - ἐκ Θεμελίων ek themeliōn. The change in the Hebrew would be very slight to authorize this rendering.

And the pillars thereof tremble - In this place the earth is represented as sustained like a building by pillars or columns. Whether this is a mere poetic representation, or whether it describes the actual belief of the speaker in regard to the structure of the earth, it is not easy to determine. I am inclined to think it is the former, because in another place where he is speaking of the earth, he presents his views in another form, and more in acoordance with the truth (see the notes at Job 26:7): and because here the illustration is evidently taken from the obvious and perceived effects of an earthquake. It would convulse and agitate the pillars of the most substantial edifice, and so it seemed to shake the earth, as if its very supports would fall.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Pillars. These are represented as fixed in the waters, Proverbs viii. 29., and Psalm xxvii. 16., &c.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The earth, i.e. great portions of it, by earthquakes, or by removing islands, which sometimes hath been done.

The pillars thereof, i.e. the strength or the strongest parts of it, the mountains, yea, the deep and inward parts of it, which, like pillars, supported those parts which appear to our view, and yet have been discovered and overturned by earthquakes.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. Pillars thereof — Job speaks after the popular notion of the day, of the earth as resting on pillars, as we still speak of the rising of the sun. That he had a correct knowledge of the spherical form of the earth, is evident from Job_26:7, where see note. Dillmann explains the pillars, by the roots of the mountains, which sustained the earth as their summits did the heavens: Jerome, that they figuratively represent its stability.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Which shaketh the earth out of her place. This is a still more startling figure of speech; but comp. Psa_46:2 Psa_68:16 Psa_114:4, Psa_114:6. And the pillars thereof tremble. The earth is conceived of, poetically, as a huge edifice, supported on pillars, (comp. Psa_75:3) which in an earthquake are shaken, and impart their motion to the entire building. Rosenmuller"s quotation of Seneca, "Nat. Quaest.," 6:20 ex aliqua parle terra veluti columnis quibusdam et pills sustinetur, quibus vitiatis et recedentibus tremit pondus impositum is apposite.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The earth - Great portions of it, by earthquakes, or by removing islands. Pillars - The deep and inward parts of it, which like pillars supported those parts that appear to our view.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

He Who causes the earth to quake when He looks at it, and it trembles.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.