Job 5:20

In famine he shall redeem thee - The Chaldee, which understands this chapter as speaking of the troubles and deliverances of the Israelites in Egypt and the wilderness, renders this verse as follows:

"In the famine of Egypt he redeemed thee from death; and in the war of Amalek, from the slaying of the sword."

In famine he shall redeem thee - That is, will deliver thee from death. On the meaning of the word "redeem," see the notes at Isaiah 43:1, Isaiah 43:3.

From the power of the sword - Margin, as in Hebrew "hands." That is, he should not be slain by armed men. A mouth is often attributed to the sword in the Scriptures, because it devours; "hands" are attributed to it here, because it is by the hand that we perform an undertaking, and the sword is personified, and represented as acting as a conscious agent; compare Ezekiel 35:5, margin. The meaning is that God would protect those who put their trust in him, in times of calamity and war. Doubtless Eliphaz had seen instances enough of this kind to lead him to this general conclusion, where the pious poor had been protected in a remarkable manner, and where signal deliverances had been vouchsafed to the righteous in danger.

5:20 He shall - These things he utters with more confidence, because the rewards or punishments of this life, were more constantly distributed to men in the Old Testament according to their good or bad behaviour, than they are now: and because it was his opinion, that great afflictions were the certain evidences of wickedness; and consequently, that great deliverances would infallibly follow upon true repentance.