Job 5:4
in Job 5His sons are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
His children are far from safety, And they are crushed in the gate, Neither is there any to deliver them:
KJV
His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
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This verse in Job 5
Commentary
11 notes on this verseHis children are far from safety - His posterity shall not continue in prosperity. Ill gotten, ill spent; whatever is got by wrong must have God’s curse on it. They are crushed in the gate - The Targum says, They shall be bruised in the gate of hell, in the day of the great judgment.
This site's exposition
His sons are far from safety
on Job 5:4-5
Eliphaz presses the doctrine into the next generation, a charge that lands hard on a man who has just buried ten children. In "The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from the thorns," a ruined estate is stripped bare, poverty following judgment as harvest follows planting.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION. His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither shall there be any to deliver them. They all are 'the children' of this foolish man, who are generated by the preaching of that unbelief, and these 'are far from safety,' for though they enjoy the temporal life without trouble, they are stricken the worse with eternal vengeance, as the Lord says concerning these same sons of such an one, Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. It follows, And they are crushed in the gate, neither shall there be any to deliver them. Who else is to be understood by the name of gate, but the Mediator between God and Man, Who saith, I am the door; by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. The sons, then, of this foolish man advance without the gate, and they are 'crushed in the gate,' for the evil offspring of the Jews, before the Mediator's coming, prospered in the observance of the Law, but in the presence of our Redeemer itself they fell away from the service of the Divine Being, proving outcasts by the deserts of their faithlessness. And verily there is none 'to rescue them,' for while they strive by their persecution to kill the Redeemer Himself, they cut themselves off from the proffered means of their rescue.
MORAL INTERPRETATION. And they shall be crushed in the gate; neither shall there be any to deliver them. For as the entrance of a city is called the 'gate,' so is the day of Judgment the gate of the Kingdom, since all the Elect go in thereby to the glory of their heavenly country. And hence when Solomon saw this day approaching for the recompensing of Holy Church, he said, Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
He demonstrates the evils which proceed from the prosperity of the fool first as to his sons. For it frequently happens that when some rich and powerful man raises his sons without discipline which is characteristic of the fool, his sons fall into many dangers. …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Children - Whose greatness he designed in all his enterprizes, supposing his family would be established forever. Safely - Are exposed to dangers and calamities, and can neither preserve themselves, nor the inheritance which their fathers left them. There is no question but he glances here, at the death of Job's children.
He seems here to parallel Job's case with that which is commonly the case of wicked people. Job had prospered for a time, seemed confirmed, and was secure in his prosperity; and it is common for foolish wicked men to do so: I have seen them taking root --planted, and, in their own and others' apprehension, fixed, and likely to continue.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
His children are far from safety,....
Perhaps the door or gate of the house was highest built, and fell heaviest upon them, and there was none to deliver them from perishing in the ruins. This is commonly understood of the destruction of the families of wicked men, by the execution of justice upon them, to oblige them to restore what they have ill-gotten.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
His children . . . crushed in the gate--A judicial formula. The gate was the place of judgment and of other public proceedings (Ps 127:5; Such propylæa have been found in the Assyrian remains.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
His children are far from safety - That is, this is soon manifest by their being cut off or subjected to calamity. The object of Eliphaz is, to state the result of his own observation, and to show how calamity overtook the wicked though they even prospered for a time. He begins with that which a man would feel most - the calamity which comes upon his children, and says that God would punish him in them. Every word of this would go to the heart of Job; for he could not but feel that it was aimed at him, and that the design was to prove that the calamities that had come upon his children were a proof of his own wickedness and of the divine displeasure. It is remarkable that Job listens to this with the utmost patience. There is no interruption of the speaker; no breaking in upon the argument of his friend; no mark of uneasiness. Oriental politeness required that a speaker should be heard attentively through whatever he might say. See the Introduction, Section 7. Cutting and severe, therefore, as this strain of remark must have been, the sufferer sat meekly and heard it all, and waited for the appropriate time when an answer might be returned. And they are crushed in the gate - The gate of a city in ancient times was the chief place of concourse, and was the place where public business was usually transacted, and where courts of justice were held; see Gen 23:10; Deu 21:19; Deu 25:6-7; Rth 4:1 ff: Psa 127:5; Pro 22:22. The Greeks also held their courts in some public place of business. Hence, the forum, ἀγορά agora, was also a place for fairs. See Jahn’s Archaeology, section 247. Some suppose that the meaning here is, that they were oppressed and trodden down by the concourse in the gate. […]
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יִרְחֲק֣וּ | yirchaku | they are distant | H7368 → | 57 times |
| בָנָ֣יו | vanav | children his | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| מִיֶּ֑שַׁע | miyesha' | from safety | H3468 → | |
| וְיִֽדַּכְּא֥וּ | veyiddakeu | so they may be crushed | H1792 → | 18 times |
| בַ֝שַּׁ֗עַר | vashaar | in the gate | H8179 → | 374 times |
| וְאֵ֣ין | veein | and there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| מַצִּֽיל׃ | matzil | [is] a deliverer | H5337 → | 212 times |
יִרְחֲק֣וּthey are distant
yirchakuH7368 →57 times
בָנָ֣יוchildren his
vanavH1121 →4930 times
מִיֶּ֑שַׁעfrom safety
miyesha'H3468 →
וְיִֽדַּכְּא֥וּso they may be crushed
veyiddakeuH1792 →18 times
בַ֝שַּׁ֗עַרin the gate
vashaarH8179 →374 times
וְאֵ֣יןand there not
veeinH369 →789 times
מַצִּֽיל׃[is] a deliverer
matzilH5337 →212 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 20:5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 5:9
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth…
- Numbers 14:18
‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon…
- Deuteronomy 4:24
For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
- Exodus 34:14
For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
- Joshua 24:19
But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins.
- Deuteronomy 5:9
Through
Amos 5:12For I know that your transgressions are many and your sins are numerous. You oppress the righteous by taking bribes; you deprive the poor of justice in the gate.
it leads to
- Amos 2:6–7
This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.
- Amos 5:10
There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.
- Amos 2:6–7
Through
Psalms 127:5Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. He will not be put to shame when he confronts the enemies at the gate.
it leads to
- Proverbs 27:11
Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart, so that I can answer him who taunts me.
- Proverbs 27:11
Where this verse is studied
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book VI; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.