The Meaning of Job 5:11 Explained

Job 5:11

KJV: To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.

YLT: To set the low on a high place, And the mourners have been high in safety.

Darby: Setting up on high those that are low; and mourners are exalted to prosperity.

ASV: So that he setteth up on high those that are low, And those that mourn are exalted to safety.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

To set up  on high  those that be low;  that those which mourn  may be exalted  to safety. 

What does Job 5:11 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 5:1-27 - The Benefits Of Chastisement
In this chapter Eliphaz closes his first speech. He had already suggested that Job's sufferings were the result of some secret sin. It could not be otherwise according to his philosophy. Affliction and trouble did not come by chance. It was as much a law of nature, so Eliphaz thought, for calamity to follow sin as for sparks to fly upward. However deeply evil men had rooted themselves, they were doomed to be destroyed. Was it not obvious that Job had in some way offended? Let him confess and be restored!
The ideal life which will ensue on a genuine repentance is described in the most thrilling and glowing terms, Job 5:8-17. Each sentence is a priceless jewel, and each has been tested by generations of returning prodigals, for whom each promise has been countersigned by the "Yea" of Christ, 2 Corinthians 1:20. Paul quotes Job 5:13 in 1 Corinthians 3:19. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 5

1  Eliphaz shows that the end of the wicked is misery;
6  that man is born to trouble;
8  that God is to be regarded in affliction;
17  the happy end of God's correction

What do the individual words in Job 5:11 mean?

He sets those who are lowly on high and those who mourn are lifted to safety
לָשׂ֣וּם שְׁפָלִ֣ים לְמָר֑וֹם וְ֝קֹדְרִ֗ים שָׂ֣גְבוּ יֶֽשַׁע

לָשׂ֣וּם  He  sets 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: שׂוּמָה 
Sense: to put, place, set, appoint, make.
שְׁפָלִ֣ים  those  who  are  lowly 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural
Root: שָׁפָל  
Sense: low, humble.
לְמָר֑וֹם  on  high 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine singular
Root: מָרֹום  
Sense: height.
וְ֝קֹדְרִ֗ים  and  those  who  mourn 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine plural
Root: קָדַר  
Sense: to mourn, be dark.
שָׂ֣גְבוּ  are  lifted 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: שָׂגַב  
Sense: to be high, be inaccessibly high.
יֶֽשַׁע  to  safety 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: יֵשַׁע  
Sense: deliverance, salvation, rescue, safety, welfare.