1 Samuel 2:7

2:7 The Lord impoverishes and makes wealthy;

he humbles and he exalts.

Ayub 5:11

5:11 he sets ¹  the lowly ²  on high,

that those who mourn ³  are raised ⁴  to safety.

Mazmur 147:6

147:6 The Lord lifts up the oppressed,

but knocks ⁵  the wicked to the ground.

Yehezkiel 21:26

21:26 this is what the sovereign Lord says:

Tear off the turban, ⁶ 

take off the crown!

Things must change! ⁷ 

Exalt the lowly,

bring down the proud! ⁸ 

Daniel 2:21

2:21 He changes times and seasons,

deposing some kings

and establishing others. ⁹ 

He gives wisdom to the wise;

he imparts knowledge to those with understanding; ¹⁰ 

[5:11]  ¹ tn Heb “setting.” The infinitive construct clause is here taken as explaining the nature of God, and so parallel to the preceding descriptions. If read simply as a purpose clause after the previous verse, it would suggest that the purpose of watering the earth was to raise the humble (cf. NASB, “And sends water on the fields, // So that He sets on high those who are lowly”). A. B. Davidson (Job, 39) makes a case for this interpretation, saying that God’s gifts in nature have the wider purpose of blessing man, but he prefers to see the line as another benevolence, parallel to v. 10, and so suggests a translation “setting up” rather than “to set up.”

[5:11]  ² tn The word שְׁפָלִים (shÿfalim) refers to “those who are down.” This refers to the lowly and despised of the earth. They are the opposite of the “proud” (see Ps 138:6). Here there is a deliberate contrast between “lowly” and “on high.”

[5:11]  ³ tn The meaning of the word is “to be dark, dirty”; therefore, it refers to the ash-sprinkled head of the mourner (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 54). The custom was to darken one’s face in sorrow (see Job 2:12; Ps 35:14; 38:7).

[5:11]  ⁴ tn The perfect verb may be translated “be set on high; be raised up.” E. Dhorme (Job, 64) notes that the perfect is parallel to the infinitive of the first colon, and so he renders it in the same way as the infinitive, comparing the construction to that of 28:25.

[147:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “brings down.”

[21:26]  ⁶ tn Elsewhere in the Bible the turban is worn by priests (Exod 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6; 39:28, 31; Lev 8:9; 16:4), but here a royal crown is in view.

[21:26]  ⁷ tn Heb “This not this.”

[21:26]  ⁸ tn Heb “the high one.”

[2:21]  ⁹ tn Aram “kings.”

[2:21]  ¹⁰ tn Aram “the knowers of understanding.”