Job 5:16

16 And hope shall be to a needy man, but wickedness shall draw together his mouth. (And the needy shall have hope, and the mouths of the wicked shall be drawn together, or closed.)

Job 5:16 Meaning and Commentary

Job 5:16

So the poor hath hope
Who observing this and that and the other poor man crying to the Lord and saved, hopes that he may be saved by him also; and having had experience of salvation out of one trouble or more, even out of six troubles, as in ( Job 5:19 ) , entertains a comfortable hope he shall be saved out of the seventh, or whatsoever he is in: the word F25 used signifies one that is weak and feeble, attenuated, and exhausted of his strength, wealth, and substance; and may be applied to one spiritually poor, and in a very destitute and forlorn condition in himself; and yet, through the revelation of the grace and mercy of God to him, has hope of safety in Christ, the strong hold and hope set before him to flee unto; and of salvation by him, it being in him, and for the chief of sinners, and altogether free; and of eternal life through him, as being promised of God, that cannot lie: the free gift of God through Christ, and in his hands to dispose of:

and iniquity stoppeth her mouth:
that is, iniquitous men: very wicked men, who are iniquity and wickedness itself; these shall stop their mouths, through shame at what they have said concerning the poor that God saves, see ( Micah 7:9 Micah 7:10 ) ; and through admiration at the goodness of God in saving them, ( Isaiah 52:15 ) ; having nothing to say against the ways and dispensations of Divine Providence, they are apt to quarrel with, ( Psalms 107:40-42 ) ; and especially at the last day such shall have their mouths stopped, and shall not be able to open them against the Lord or his people, being convinced of their hard speeches which they have spoken against them, ( Jude 1:15 ) ; and will be like the man at the feast without a wedding garment, speechless, or muzzled, and his mouth stopped, ( Matthew 22:12 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F25 (ldl) "tenai", Montanus, Vatablus, Junius, Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.

Job 5:16 In-Context

14 By day they shall run into darknesses, and as in night, so they shall grope in midday. (In the daylight they shall run to the darkness, and at midday they shall grope, like in the night.)
15 Certainly God shall make safe a needy man from the sword of their mouth, and a poor man from the hand of the violent, either raveners. (But God shall make the needy safe from the mouth of their sword, and the poor from the hand of the violent, or of the raveners.)
16 And hope shall be to a needy man, but wickedness shall draw together his mouth. (And the needy shall have hope, and the mouths of the wicked shall be drawn together, or closed.)
17 Blessed is the man, which is chastised of the Lord; therefore reprove thou not the blaming of the Lord. (Blessed is the man, who is chastised by the Lord; and so do not thou reprove the Lord's rebuke.)
18 For he woundeth, and (then he) doeth medicine; he smiteth (he striketh), and (then) his hands shall make whole.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.