Job 5:21

“Thou shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue, etc.] Of Satan, as Jarchi, the accuser of the brethren; or rather from the evil tongue of wicked men, their slanders, calumnies, and reproaches; the tongue is a small weapon, but it is a cutting one; it is like a scourge or whip, with which wicked men strike hard: the enemies of Jeremiah encouraged one another to smite him with their tongue, (<241818>Jeremiah 18:18); and a sad thing it is to be under the lash of some men’s tongues, and a great mercy it is to be delivered from them: God does sometimes hide his people, and keeps them secretly, as in a pavilion, from the strife of tongues; (<193120>Psalm 31:20); he either restrains the tongues…”

“(Psa 31:20; Jer 18:18). Smite (Psalm 73. 9).”

“Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue - Margin, Or, “when the tongue scourgeth.” The word rendered “scourge” - שׁוט shôṭ - means properly a whip. It is used of God when he scourges people by calamities and punishments; Isaiah 10:26; Job 9:23. See the use of the verb שׁוּט shûṭ in Job 2:7. Here it is used to denote a slanderous tongue, as being that which inflicts a severe wound upon the reputation and peace of an individual. The idea is, that God would guard the reputation of those who commit themselves to him, and that they shall be secure from slander, “whose breath,” Shakespeare says, “outvenoms all the worms of Nile.” Neither shalt thou be afraid when destruction cometh -…”

“be hid: Psa 31:20, Psa 55:21, Psa 57:4; Pro 12:18; Isa 54:17; Jer 18:18; Jam 3:5-8 from the scourge: or, when the tongue scourgeth neither: Psa 91:5-7 Job 5:22”