Job 5:11

11 he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

Job 5:11 Meaning and Commentary

Job 5:11

To set up on high those that be low
Not the low plants, which, through rain, are made to run up on high, though there is a truth in that; but husbandmen and gardeners, and such like persons, in low circumstances, who, by means of showers of rain, which make their gardens, fields, and lands fruitful, are raised to enjoy good estates, and large possessions:

that those which mourn may be exalted to safety;
or "are black" F12, that are clothed in black, as a token of mourning; or whose faces are black with famine, see ( Lamentations 4:8 ) ( 5:10 ) ; or are in very distressed circumstances, and black through poverty, as the Targum, and mourn over and grieve at their sad and deplorable case; those, through rain and fruitful seasons, are brought out of such an uncomfortable situation, and put into a better condition of life, where they are as in a fortress, out of the reach of such sad calamities: some connect the words with the following, that in order to do this, to raise up the humble and exalt mourners, "he disappoints the devices of the crafty", &c. ( Job 5:12 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F12 (Myrdq) "denigrati", Montanus, Bolducius; "atrati", Cocceius, Schmidt, Michaelis; "pullati", Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus, Beza; "sordidati", Schultens.

Job 5:11 In-Context

9 He does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number.
10 He gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields;
11 he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.
13 He takes the wise in their own craftiness; and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.