to put (used in a great variety of applications · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
high
לְמָר֑וֹםle.ma.Rom
H4791
altitude · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
low
שְׁפָלִ֣יםshe.fa.Lim
H8217
depressed · adjective, masculine plural absolute
mourn
וְ֝קֹדְרִ֗יםve.ko.de.Rim
H6937
to be ashy · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
exalted
שָׂ֣גְבוּSa.ge.vu
H7682
to be (causatively · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
safety
יֶֽשַׁעYe.sha'
H3468
liberty · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 113:7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;
1 Samuel 2:7-8 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.
Psalms 107:41 Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.
Luke 1:52-53 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
Luke 6:21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
Deuteronomy 33:27 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, D…
Psalms 91:14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
Ezekiel 17:24 And 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 gree…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 5:6-16
Eliphaz, having touched Job in a very tender part, in mentioning both the loss of his estate and the death of his children as the just punishment of his sin, that he might not drive him to despair, here begins to encourage him, and puts him in a way to make himself easy. Now he very much changes his voice (Gal 4:20), and speaks in the accents of kindness, as if he would atone for the hard words he had given him.
I. He reminds him that no affliction comes by chance, nor is to be attributed to second causes: It doth not come forth of the dust, nor spring out of the ground, as the grass doth, Job 5:6. It doth not come of course, at certain seasons of the year, as natural productions do, by a ch…
Connected with Job 5:9. His "unsearchable" dealings are with a view to raise the humble and abase the proud (Luk 1:52). Therefore Job ought to turn humbly to Him.
John Gill on Job 5:11
To set up on high those that be low,.... Not the low plants, which, through rain, are made to run up on high, though there is a truth in that; but husbandmen and gardeners, and such like persons, in low circumstances, who, by means of showers of rain, which make their gardens, fields, and lands fruitful, are raised to enjoy good estates, and large possessions:
that those which mourn may be exalted to safety; or "are black" (l), that are clothed in black, as a token of mourning; or whose faces are black with famine, see Lamentations 4:8; or are in very distressed circumstances, and black through poverty, as the Targum, and mourn over and grieve at their sad and deplorable case; those, throug…
6 For evil cometh not forth from the dust,
And sorrow sprouteth not from the earth;
7 For man is born to sorrow,
As the sparks fly upward.
8 On the contrary, I would earnestly approach unto God,
And commit my cause to the Godhead;
9 To Him who doeth great things and unsearchable;
Marvellous things till there is no number:
10 Who giveth rain over the earth,
And causeth water to flow over the fields:
11 To set the low in high places;
And those that mourn are exalted to prosperity.
As the oracle above, so Eliphaz says here, that a sorrowful life is allotted to man,
(Note: Fries explains יוּלּד as part., and refers to Geiger's Lehrb. zur Sprache der Mischna, S. 41f., according to which מקטּל si…
The Church Fathers
LITERAL INTERPRETATION. Who setteth up on high those that be low. And those which mourn He exalteth with safety. It is well said then, Who setteth up on high those that be low. And it is fitly added, And those which mourn He exalteth with safety. Oftentimes in this world even any that be glad of heart are 'exalted,' whilst they are swoln by the mere gloriousness of their fortune, but 'those that mourn, the Lord exalts to safety,' in that he raises His sorrowing children to glory by the solid substance of true joy; for they are exalted by safety, and not by madness, who, set fast in good works, rejoice with a sure hope in God. For there are some, as we have said, who both do misdeeds, and yet do not cease to rejoice. Of whom Solomon saith, Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the things that be froward. And again, There be wicked men, who are as secure, as though they had the deeds of the righteous. These, truly, are not 'exalted by safety,' but by foolishness, which same are full of pride when they ought to be loaded with sorrow, and for the very reason that these wretched persons let themselves out in exultation, they are wept over by all good men. Verily not unlike to the senses of madmen, they account that insanity, in which they surpass others, to be strength. They know not that it comes from disease, that they are able to do more than the sane, and they as it were esteem themselves to have increased in powers, whilst they are drawing near to the end of life by accessions of sickness. These because they have no perception of reason, are wept for, and they laugh, and they expand in an extraordinary exultation of heart, in the very same proportion that from insensibility they are ignorant of the evil they are undergoing. Those then that 'mourn' the Lord 'exalts with safety,' in that the mind of the Elect is full of joy, derived, not from the madness of the present life, but from the certain prospect of eternal salvation.
MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION. Who setteth up on high those that be low; and those which mourn He exalteth with safety. 'Those that be low are set on high,' in that they, who are now despised for the love of God, shall then come as judges along with God, as 'Truth' pledges this which we have just named to the same humble ones, saying, Ye which have followed Me, in the Regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Then 'those that mourn the Lord exalts with safety,' in that they who, being inflamed with desire of Him, flee prosperity, endure crosses, undergo tortures at the hands of persecutors, chasten their own selves with grieving, are then vouchsafed a safety so much the more exalted, as they now from devout affection kill themselves to all the joys of the world. Hence it is that it is said by Solomon, The heart knoweth his own soul's bitterness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy. For the human mind 'knoweth its own soul's bitterness,' when inflamed with aspirations after the eternal land, it learns by weeping the sorrowfulness of its pilgrimage. But the 'stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy,' in that he, that is now a stranger to the grief of compunction, is not then a partaker in the joy of consolation. Hence it is that 'Truth' saith in the Gospel, Verily, verily I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. And again, And ye therefore now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. The Lord, then, is said 'to exalt with safety those which mourn,' in that to all, who for His sake are stricken with grief in time, He vouchsafes true salvation for their comfort. But at the same time nothing hinders but that this may be understood of God's Elect even in this life. For those that be 'low are set on high,' in that when they abase themselves in humility, they mount above all sublunary things in the discernment of a lofty mind. And, while they reckon themselves to be worthless in all things, by the discriminating view of a right mind, they surmount and trample upon the glory of this world. Let us look at lowly Paul. Mark how he says to his disciples, For we preach not ourselves, but…
Dictionary and topics
Humility · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Eliphaz’s doxology praised God as the wonder-working Creator and Sustainer of the universe (5:9-10) and as the righteous Judge who brings down the powerful and lifts up the poor (5:11-16).
5:9-10 Job’s region depended upon rain rather than irrigation (see 36:27-28).
Rashi on Job 5:11
to place the humble on high He gives the rain, and He frustrates the plans of the crafty, who intend to raise the prices and buy the fields of the poor for little grain.
and those blackened whose fares are shriveled from hunger.
