When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly.
Parallel translations
- WEB When they cast down, you shall say, ‘be lifted up.’ He will save the humble person.
- KJV When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.
- NKJV When they cast you down, and you say, ‘Exaltation will come!’ Then He will save the humble person.
- NASB “When they have brought you low, you will speak with confidence, And He will save the humble person.
- NLT If people are in trouble and you say, ‘Help them,’ God will save them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Eliphaz says that when others are brought low, Job will speak restoration, for God saves the humble. He highlights God's grace toward the lowly.
Overview
Eliphaz affirms the genuine biblical truth that God saves the humble and lifts up the downcast (cf. Ps 138:6; James 4:6). The principle is sound and gospel-shaped, for God exalts the lowly through Christ. The irony remains that Job is being humbled, yet Eliphaz cannot see God's saving purpose at work in his friend's affliction.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Jas 4:6But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Job 5:19–27He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven.
- Luke 1:52He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble.
- 1 Pet 5:5Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Matt 23:12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
- Ps 91:14–16“Because he loves Me, I will deliver him; because he knows My name, I will protect him.
- Luke 18:9–14To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable:
- Isa 66:2Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being,” declares the LORD. “This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word.
- Ps 92:9–11For surely Your enemies, O LORD, surely Your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered.
- Isa 57:15For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.
- Prov 29:23A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.
- Luke 14:11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
- Ps 138:6Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.
- Ps 9:2–3I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
- Ezek 21:26–27This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Remove the turban, and take off the crown. Things will not remain as they are: Exalt the lowly and bring low the exalted.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 22:29 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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