Job 5:4

4 His children are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.

Job 5:4 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
4 His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
English Standard Version (ESV)
4 His children are far from safety; they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them.
New Living Translation (NLT)
4 Their children are abandoned far from help; they are crushed in court with no one to defend them.
The Message Bible (MSG)
4 Their children out in the cold, abused and exploited, with no one to stick up for them.
American Standard Version (ASV)
4 His children are far from safety, And they are crushed in the gate, Neither is there any to deliver them:
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
4 His children are far from help. They are crushed at the city gate, and no one is there to rescue them.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
4 His children are far from safety. They are crushed at the [city] gate, with no one to defend [them].
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
4 Their children aren't safe at all. They lose their case in court. No one speaks up for them.

Job 5:4 Meaning and Commentary

Job 5:4

His children are far from safety
From outward safety, from evils and dangers, to which they are liable and exposed, not only from men, who hate them for their father's sake, who have been oppressors of them, or from God, who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children; and from spiritual and eternal safety or "salvation", or from salvation in the world to come, as the Targum, they treading in their fathers steps, and imitating their actions:

and they are crushed in the gate;
or openly, publicly, as Aben Ezra and others; or in the courts of judicature whither they are brought by those their parents had oppressed, and where they are cast, and have no favour shown them; or literally by the falling of the gate upon them; and perhaps some reference is had to Job's children being crushed in the gate or door of the house, through which they endeavoured to get when it fell upon them and destroyed them; the Targum is,

``and are crushed in the gates of hell, in the day of the great judgment:''

neither [is there] any to deliver [them];
neither God nor man, they having no interest in either, or favour with, partly on account of their father's ill behaviour, and partly on account of their own; and sad is the case of men when it is such, see ( Psalms 50:21 ) .

Job 5:4 In-Context

2 Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
3 I myself have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed.
4 His children are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.
5 The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
6 For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.

Cross References 4

  • 1. Job 20:10; Job 27:14
  • 2. S Job 4:11
  • 3. Job 4:19; Amos 5:12
  • 4. Psalms 109:12; Isaiah 9:17; 1 John 2:1
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.