Job 5:16 - Exposition

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 ).