To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.
Parallel translations
- WEB so that he sets up on high those who are low, those who mourn are exalted to safety.
- BSB He sets the lowly on high, so that mourners are lifted 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 raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
- Luke 6:21Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
- Ps 107:41Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.
- Luke 1:52–53He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
- 1 Sam 2:7–8The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.
- Ps 91:14Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
- Jas 4:6–10But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
- Deut 33:27The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.
- Ezek 17:24And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.
- Jas 1:9Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
- 1 Pet 5:10But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
- 1 Pet 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
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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
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