Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed - literally, 'in the earth being changed.' Compare Psalms 102:26. The change of the earth means here great revolutions through which its form, as the seat of political kingdoms, is altered (cf. Psalms 46:6). The instrumental cause of this change is the lust of conquest, which impels great states like a raging sea (cf. Psalms 46:6, "the pagan raged"), "with the swelling thereof" - i:e., through their haughty pride-to disturb the existing order. The great first cause is the Lord, who uses the world-powers, like Assyria, as "the (unconscious) rod of His anger" (Isaiah 10:5; Isaiah 10:7). It is when Yahweh (H3068) "utters His voice the earth melts" (Psalms 46:6; cf. Haggai 2:21-22). The Assyrian had just before "removed the bounds of the people, and robbed their treasures, and put down the inhabitants like a valiant man, and as one gathereth eggs ... gathered all the earth" (Isaiah 10:13-14).
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea - literally, 'into the heart of the sea.' The language must he understood figuratively. Hengstenberg translates, 'and though the mountains SHAKE IN the heart of the sea.' The antithesis (Psalms 46:5) favours this. 'The mountains shake in the heart of the sea' (explained Psalms 46:6, "the kingdoms were moved"), but "she (the city of God) shall not be moved" (Psalms 46:5). The "mountains" are empires raised on high (Psalms 30:7; Revelation 8:8). This is the very image in the parallel history (Isaiah 37:24), "By thy servants thou hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains (the earth-kingdoms enumerated, Psalms 46:11; Isaiah 10:9), to the sides of Lebanon, and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof" (namely, of Zion, represented, because of its cedar-constructed palaces, under the image of cedar-abounding Mount Lebanon).