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So the poor have hope, And injustice shuts her mouth.
Job 5:16 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB So the poor has hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.
  • KJV So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.
  • BSB So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.
  • NASB “So the helpless has hope, And injustice has shut its mouth.
  • NLT And so at last the poor have hope, and the snapping jaws of the wicked are shut.

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

So the poor have hope and injustice is silenced. It affirms that God's intervention gives the afflicted reason to hope and shuts the mouth of wickedness.

Overview

Eliphaz concludes that because God acts for the lowly, the poor possess hope and injustice is stopped. This confidence in God's ultimate vindication of the oppressed is a cherished biblical assurance. It points forward to the day when, in Christ, every wrong is righted and the mouth of injustice is forever stopped, so that the hope of the poor is not put to shame.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 8

  • Ps 107:42The upright will see it, and be glad. All the wicked will shut their mouths.
  • Ps 63:11But the king shall rejoice in God. Everyone who swears by him will praise him, for the mouth of those who speak lies shall be silenced.
  • 1 Sam 2:8–9He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s. He has set the world on them.
  • Zech 9:12Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope! Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.
  • Isa 14:32What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.
  • Ps 9:18For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.
  • Rom 3:19Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
  • Exod 11:7But against any of the children of Israel a dog won’t even bark or move its tongue, against man or animal; that you may know that Yahweh makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 5:16YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 5:16 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.