His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
Parallel translations
- WEB His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them,
- BSB His sons are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.
- NKJV His sons are far from safety, They are crushed in the gate, And there is no deliverer.
- NASB “His sons are far from safety, They are also oppressed at the gate, And there is no one to save them.
- NLT Their children are abandoned far from help; they are crushed in court with no one to defend 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
The fool's children are left without safety, crushed in the city gate with no one to deliver them. It paints the ruin that Eliphaz believes overtakes the wicked's family.
Overview
Eliphaz describes the offspring of the foolish suffering injustice at the gate, the place of legal judgment, with no rescuer. The cutting implication is that Job's bereavement signals such judgment. While sin's consequences can indeed touch families, Eliphaz wrongly reads Job's grief as proof of guilt, and the reader knows from the prologue that Job's losses came not from his sin but from a heavenly test.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 127:5Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
- Job 18:16–19His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
- Ps 119:155Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes.
- Ps 109:9–15Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
- Job 8:4If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;
- Amos 5:12For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
- Job 4:10–11The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
- Exod 20:5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
- Luke 13:4–5Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
- Ps 7:2Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
- Job 10:7Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.
- Job 1:19And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
- Job 27:14If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
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 5:4 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.