He sets on high those who are lowly, And those who mourn 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.
- BSB He sets the lowly on high, so that mourners 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 up the poor out of the dust. Lifts up the needy from the ash heap;
- Luke 6:21Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
- Ps 107:41Yet he lifts the needy out of their affliction, and increases their families like a flock.
- Luke 1:52–53He has put down princes from their thrones. And has exalted the lowly.
- 1 Sam 2:7–8Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up.
- Ps 91:14“Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name.
- Jas 4:6–10But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Deut 33:27The eternal God is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms. He thrust out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’
- Ezek 17:24All the trees of the field will know that I, Yahweh, 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, Yahweh, have spoken and have done it.’”
- Jas 1:9But let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position;
- 1 Pet 5:10But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
- 1 Pet 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.