Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 5:15
But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
15. but He saveth ] Rather, so He saveth. The salvation of the poor is the consequence of defeating the devices of the crafty, as it is the object in view.
from the sword, from their mouth ] It is evident that this verse wants the usual balance of clauses, and probably there is some corruption in it. Some mss omit from before mouth, “from the sword of their mouth.” The omission wants support, but the sense is probably that of the words as they stand: from the sword (which cometh) from their mouth; or the two expressions may be in apposition: from the sword even from their mouth. Others have proposed to point the word from-the-sword differently, making it to mean the desolate. This restores balance to the verse: thus he saveth the desolate from their mouth, and the poor from the hand of the mighty. The word “desolate” occurs Eze 29:12, said of cities, and the verb is often applied to lands, mountains, &c., but does not seem used of persons.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But he saveth the poor from the sword – He shows himself to be the friend and protector of the defenseless. The phrase from the sword, from their mouth, has been variously interpreted. Dr. Good renders it,
So he saveth the persecutors from their mouth,
And the helpless from the hand of the violent.
Noyes,
So he saveth the persecuted from their mouth,
The oppressed from the hand of the mighty.
This rendering is obtained by changing the points in the word mechereb, from the sword, to macherab, making it the Hophal participle from charab, to make desolate. This was proposed by Capellus, and has been adopted by Durell, Michaelis, Dathe, Doederlein, and others. Rosenmuller pronounces it wholly unauthorized. Jerome renders it, a gladio otis eorum – from the sword of their mouth. It seems to me that the whole verse may be literally rendered, he saveth from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the strong, the poor. According to this version, the phrase from their mouth may either mean from the mouth, i. e. the edge of the sword, using the plural for the singular, or from the mouth of oppressors, using it to represent their violence, and their disposition to devour the poor. The latter is more probably the true interpretation, and there is no need of a ehange in the points in the Hebrew. Thus, interpreted, the sense is, that God preserves the poor from oppression; or, in other words, that he befriends them, and is therefore worthy of confidence. This sentiment accords with what is found everywhere in the Bible.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. He saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth] This is rather a harsh construction. To avoid this, some have proposed to render mechereb, which we translate from the sword, the persecuted, but, I am afraid, on very slender authority. Instead of mechereb mippihem, “from the sword, from their mouth,” eleven of Kennicott and De Rossi’s MSS. read mechereb pihem, from the sword of their mouth; and with these MSS. the Chaldee, Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic agree. The verse, therefore, may be translated thus: –
He saveth from the sword of their mouth;
The poor from the hand of the mighty.
Or thus:-
He saveth from the sword of their mouth;
And with a strong hand the impoverished.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The poor, or helpless; who therefore flee to God for refuge.
From their mouth, or,
from the sword which cometh out of their mouth, i.e. from all their censures, slanders, threatenings, deceitful insinuations, false swearings of witnesses, unrighteous sentences of corrupt judges, whereby their good names, or estates, or lives may be exposed to the utmost hazards. And this is fitly opposed to the sword of the hand, implied in the next branch of the verse. Or, from the sword by their mouths, i.e. by those wicked mens own words against the godly, which God wonderfully overruleth to the working out of their deliverance.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. “From the sword”which proceedeth “from their mouth” (Psa 59:7;Psa 57:4).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But he saveth the poor,…. Who are so in a literal sense, and whom the Lord saves with a temporal salvation; these being the butt of the crafty, wise, and cunning, on whom their eyes are, for whom they lay snares, and lie in wait to draw them in; and these being helpless and without friends, God takes notice of them, appears for them, and arises for their help, and saves them:
from the sword; of their enemies, drawn against them and ready to be sheathed in them:
from their mouth; from their reproaches, calumnies, detraction, and evil speaking; or “from the sword, their mouth” w, as some; or “from the sword of their mouth” x, as others; or which comes out of it; whose mouths and tongues are as sharp swords, which destroy their credit and reputation, and threaten them with ruin; the Targum is,
“from the slaughter of their mouth:”
and from the hand of the mighty; their mighty enemies, that, are mightier than they; the Targum is,
“from the hand of a mighty king;”
such an one as Pharaoh, which the same paraphrase makes mention of in Job 5:14, and from whom the poor Israelites were delivered: this may be applied to the poor in a spiritual sense, who are poor in spirit, and are sensible of their spiritual poverty, whom the Lord looks unto, has a regard for, and saves them from “the sword” of avenging justice; that being awaked against the man, his fellow, and so warded off from them, and from the mouth of a cursing and condemning law, and from Satan the accuser of the brethren; and of wicked men, whose tongue rising up in judgment against them, he condemns; and from the “hand” of Satan the strong man armed, and who is stronger than they; and of all their spiritual enemies.
w So some in Michaelis. x “A gladio oris eorum”, V. L. “a gladio qui ex ore eorum”, De Dieu, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(15) From the sword, from their mouth.It is merely a matter of grammatical nicety whether we regard the sword as coming forth from their mouth, or as identical with what comes forth from it, or as the first of three things from which the poor are delivered. It is worthy of special note that the Lord is thus conceived of and represented, as the Saviour, and the Saviour of them who have no saviour. Is not this an idea confined to the circle of the sacred writings? At all events, it so abounds and predominates in them as to be pre-eminently, if not exclusively, characteristic of them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. From the sword . Doderlein, Michaelis, and Conant propose to change the pointing of the original, in order to make a direct object of the verb; thus, , desolated, and read, “So he rescues the victim from their mouth, and the needy from the hand of the strong.” Dr. Adam Clarke adduces eleven of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s manuscripts as reading, “from the sword of their mouth,” with which agree the Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic. The rendering of Zockler, Umbreit, and most moderns, accords with that of Delitzsch from the sword, ( that) of their mouth, that is, that proceeds from their mouth who also remarks that the text is sound and beautiful. Compare Psa 64:3, “who whet their tongue like a sword.” The shape of the tongue may have led to its comparison to a sword; certainly its power to cut, to wound, has ever led the Oriental to associate the two together.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 5:15. He saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, &c. Schultens imagines that it should be read, from the sword which proceedeth out of his mouth; and this reading receives no small confirmation from Psa 57:4; Psa 64:3. But Mr. Heath renders it, He delivereth the desolate out of their mouth, and the poor from the hand of the mighty.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 5:15 But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
Ver. 15. But he saveth the poor from the sword ] From the woe of war, from the hurt of it, not always from the smart of it; for all such promises as this of temporal deliverance are ever to be taken with exception of the cross, which yet shall be so sanctified, that the saints shall say, It was good for us to have been afflicted; provided that they may be poor in spirit (for God will save the humble person, Job 22:29 ), and sue in forma pauperis, as spiritual beggars, such as get their living by begging; the word signifieth needy and desirous of relief, very indigent, and therefore humbly suppliant for supply of things necessary. “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him (meaning himself), and saved him out of all his troubles,” Psa 34:6 . “Forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever,” Psa 74:19 . He will not, he cannot, for they are written upon the palms of his hands, so that he cannot look beside them. Who hath not heard bow graciously poor Geneva hath been preserved? Rochel relieved, as it were, by a miracle? A. D. 1573; Leyden rescued from the duke of Alva’s sword: that very night that he thought to have stormed it, the winds turned, the tide swelled, and the waters came in, and forced him to raise the siege. How well might these poor saved ones sit and sing with David, Psa 68:20 , “He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.”
From their mouth
From the hand of the mighty
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
poor = needy.
from. Some codices, with Aramaean, Syriac, and Vulgate, read “of”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
he saveth: Psa 10:14, Psa 10:17, Psa 35:10, Psa 72:4, Psa 72:12, Psa 72:13, Psa 107:41, Psa 109:31, Psa 140:12
Reciprocal: 1Sa 19:10 – he slipped Job 10:1 – My soul Psa 10:9 – when Psa 12:5 – puffeth at Psa 82:4 – rid Psa 107:42 – iniquity Psa 113:7 – raiseth Isa 25:4 – thou hast
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 5:15. But he saveth the poor, &c. According to the order in which the words stand in the Hebrew, the translation is, But he saveth from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty, the poor. Schultens thinks it should be interpreted, from the sword which proceedeth out of their mouth, meaning, their cutting and killing reproaches. A sense this which is approved by Buxtorf, and which receives no small confirmation from divers passages of Scripture, in which reproachful language is stigmatized by the name of a sword. See Psa 57:4; Psa 64:3. Dr. Waterlands translation of the verse is to the same purpose. But he saveth the poor from destruction by their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. The general sense undoubtedly is, that God saveth such as, being poor, are defenceless, and therefore flee to him for refuge, from the censures, slanders, threatenings, and deceitful insinuations of their enemies; from the false swearing of witnesses, and the unrighteous sentences of corrupt judges, by which things their characters, or estates, or lives, may be exposed to great hazards.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
5:15 But he saveth the {p} poor from the sword, from their {q} mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
(p) That is, he who humbles himself before God.
(q) He compares the slander of the wicked to sharp swords.