Job 5 · Verse 4

Job 5:4

His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
Job 5:4, King James Version

Job 5:4 in other translations

BSBHis sons are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.
WEBHis children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them,
ASVHis children are far from safety, And they are crushed in the gate, Neither is there any to deliver them:
YLTFar are his sons from safety, And they are bruised in the gate, And there is no deliverer.
DARBYHis children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, and there is no deliverer:
BBENow his children have no safe place, and they are crushed before the judges, for no one takes up their cause.
WebsterHis children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.

What does Job 5:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
4. His children ... crushed in the gate--A judicial formula. The gate was the place of judgment and of other public proceedings (Psa 127:5; Pr 22:22; Ge 23:10; De 21:19). Such propylæa have been found in the Assyrian remains. Eliphaz obliquely alludes to the calamity which cut off Job's children.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 4 His 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. There is reference here to a custom which I have often had occasion to notice: viz., that in the Eastern countries the court-house, or tribunal of justice, was at the Gate of the city; here the magistrates attended, and hither the plaintiff and defendant came for justice.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 5:1-5

Eliphaz here calls upon Job to answer his arguments. Were any of the saints or servants of God visited with such Divine judgments as Job, or did they ever behave like him under their sufferings? The term, "saints," holy, or more strictly, consecrated ones, seems in all ages to have been applied to the people of God, through the Sacrifice slain in the covenant of their reconciliation. Eliphaz doubts not that the sin…

Read the full comment on Job 5:1-5 →

Job 5:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

יִרְחֲק֣וּyir.cha.Kuthey are distantH7368
בָנָ֣יוva.Navchildren hisH1121
מִיֶּ֑שַׁעmi.Ye.sha'from safetyH3468
וְיִֽדַּכְּא֥וּve.yid.da.ke.'Uso they may be crushedH1792
בַ֝שַּׁ֗עַרva.Sha.'arin the gateH8179
וְאֵ֣יןve.'Einand there notH369
מַצִּֽיל\׃ma.Tzil[is] a delivererH5337

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 5:4

  • Psalms 127:5

    Happy 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 18:16-19

    His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off. His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street. He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.

  • Psalms 119:155

    Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes.

  • Job 10:7

    Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.

  • Psalms 109:9-15

    Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children. …

  • Job 4:10-11

    The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion’s whelps are scattered abroad.

  • Job 27:14

    If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

  • Job 8:4

    If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;

  • Luke 13:4-5

    Or 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? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

  • Amos 5:12

    For 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.

  • Exodus 20:5

    Thou 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;

  • Job 1:19

    And, 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.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
children.
4:10,11; 8:4; 18:16-19; 27:14; Ex 20:5; Ps 109:9-15; 119:155; 127:5
they are crushed.
1:19; Lu 13:4,5
neither.
10:7; Ps 7:2

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 5:3

    I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

  • Job 5:4

    His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.

  • Job 5:5

    Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.

Read all of Job 5

Job 5:4 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Sus hijos estarán lejos de la salud, y en la puerta serán quebrantados, y no habrá quien los libre.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Ses fils sont loin de la sûreté, et sont écrasés dans la porte, et il n’y a personne pour délivrer;
German
Elberfelder 1871		Fern blieben seine Kinder vom Glück; und sie wurden im Tore zertreten, und kein Erretter war da.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Longe fient filii ejus a salute, et conterentur in porta, et non erit qui eruat.