He sets the lowly on high, so that mourners are lifted to safety.
Parallel translations
- WEB so that he sets up on high those who are low, those who mourn are exalted to safety.
- KJV To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.
- NKJV He sets on high those who are lowly, And those who mourn are lifted to safety.
- NASB So that He sets on high those who are lowly, And those who mourn are lifted to safety.
- NLT He gives prosperity to the poor and protects those who suffer.
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
God lifts the lowly on high and raises mourners to safety. It declares his special care to exalt the humble and afflicted.
Overview
Eliphaz praises God for reversing fortunes, setting the lowly up high and bringing the grieving to security. This is a true and recurring biblical theme, that God exalts the humble. It anticipates Mary's song that God lifts up the lowly, and finds its deepest expression in Christ, who was himself brought low and then highly exalted, securing the lifting up of all who mourn in him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 113:7He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the dump
- Luke 6:21Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
- Ps 107:41But He lifts the needy from affliction and increases their families like flocks.
- Luke 1:52–53He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble.
- 1 Sam 2:7–8The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.
- Ps 91:14“Because he loves Me, I will deliver him; because he knows My name, I will protect him.
- Jas 4:6–10But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Deut 33:27The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ‘Destroy him!’
- Ezek 17:24Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it.’”
- Jas 1:9The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position.
- 1 Pet 5:10And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish you.
- 1 Pet 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
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 5:11 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.