Job 5:20 teaches that God rescues his people in the worst kinds of trouble, including hunger that threatens life and violence that threatens to end it. The verse is not a promise that believers will avoid these disasters, but a statement that God holds the final word over death itself. It was spoken by Eliphaz the Temanite, one of Job’s three friends, who was trying to console Job after his losses and to persuade him that God disciplines the righteous for their good.
In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power of the sword.
Job 5:20 (WEB)
What Job 5:20 Means
The phrase “in famine he will redeem you from death” describes a situation where food runs out and people slowly starve. The word “redeem” carries the idea of buying back or rescuing someone from a debt or a captivity. Eliphaz is saying that when hunger would otherwise bring death, God steps in and pulls the person back from that edge.
The second half, “in war, from the power of the sword,” names the other great danger of ancient life: armed conflict. Being under the “power of the sword” means being at the mercy of an enemy’s blade. Eliphaz says God can deliver a person even there. What the verse does not promise is that the person will escape every wound or loss. It speaks of rescue from death, not a life without hardship.
The Context of Job 5:20
The book of Job is a wisdom poem set in an unspecified ancient period, likely among the patriarchal era of the Bible. Its author is unknown, though tradition has long associated it with Moses. The main audience is anyone wrestling with why righteous people suffer, and the dialogue between Job and his friends explores that question at length.
The verses just before this one, Job 5:17-19, describe God’s correction as a kind of healing: he wounds and then binds up, injures and then makes whole. Verse 20 continues that picture by showing God’s protection in the most frightening circumstances. Read in that setting, the verse is part of Eliphaz’s argument that suffering is not the end of the story for those who turn to God, though his friends’ counsel is later challenged by the book itself.
Key Phrases in Job 5:20
Psalm 91:3
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence.
(WEB)
This psalm also speaks of God delivering from hidden dangers and from the deadly pestilence, echoing Job 5:20’s picture of rescue from death. It shows that the theme of God’s protection runs through the wisdom and worship literature of Israel.
Psalm 34:19
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
(WEB)
This verse acknowledges that the righteous face many troubles, yet affirms that the Lord delivers them out of all of them. It mirrors the balance found in Job 5:20, where trouble is real but rescue is also real.
A Short Prayer From Job 5:20
Lord, you know the places where I fear running out of what I need and the places where I feel exposed to harm. When hunger, worry, or conflict press in around me, remind me that you are able to redeem me from death. Help me to bring each need to you honestly, and to trust you with the outcome. Teach me to rest in your faithfulness even when I cannot see the way forward. Amen.
