The Pulpit Commentary on Job 5:16

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

So the poor hath hope. With the fall of each crafty oppressor, the poor man's hopes revive. He feels that "God ruleth in Jacob, and unto the ends of the world" (Psalms 59:13). He recognizes the fact that the Almighty "maintains the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor" (Psalms 140:12), that he is "a Refuge for the oppressed, a Refuge in times of trouble" (Psalms 9:9).

And iniquity stoppeth her mouth (comp. Psalms 107:42). Either "the oppressors themselves are struck dumb, recognizing the fact that God is against them;" or "those who perversely question God's ways are struck dumb, seeing his retributive justice."

If we understand the passage in the latter sense, we may see in it a reproof of Job's murmurs against his treatment by God (Job 3:11-26).

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