Job 5:4

His children are far ¹  from safety, and they are crushed ²  at the place where judgment is rendered, ³  nor is there anyone to deliver them. ⁴ 

His children are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.

"His sons are far from safety, They are even oppressed in the gate, And there is no deliverer.

Their children are abandoned far from help, with no one to defend them.

Their children out in the cold, abused and exploited, with no one to stick up for them.

Now his children have no safe place, and they are crushed before the judges, for no one takes up their cause.

Their children are far from safety, they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them.

His sons are far from safety, They are crushed in the gate, And there is no deliverer.

His children are far ¹  from safety, and they are crushed ²  at the place where judgment is rendered, ³  nor is there anyone to deliver them. ⁴ 

¹ tn The imperfect verbs in this verse describe the condition of the accursed situation. Some commentators follow the LXX and take these as jussives, making this verse the curse that the man pronounced upon the fool. Rashi adds “This is the malediction with which I have cursed him.” That would make the speaker the one calling down the judgment on the fool rather than responding by observation how God destroyed the habitation of the fool.

² tn The verb יִדַּכְּאוּ (yiddakkÿ’u) could be taken as the passive voice, or in the reciprocal sense (“crush one another”) or reflexive (“crush themselves”). The context favors the idea that the children of the foolish person will be destroyed because there is no one who will deliver them.

³ tn Heb “in the gate.” The city gate was the place of both business and justice. The sense here seems to fit the usage of gates as the place of legal disputes, so the phrase “at the place of judgment” has been used in the translation.

⁴ tn The text simply says “and there is no deliverer.” The entire clause could be subordinated to the preceding clause, and rendered simply “without a deliverer.”