Albert Barnes Commentary Job 5:6

"For affliction cometh not forth from the dust, Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;" — Job 5:6 (ASV)

Although affliction does not come forth from the dust — the margin says, “or iniquity.” The marginal reading here has been inserted from the different meanings attached to the Hebrew word. That word (און 'âven) properly means nothingness, or vanity; then nothingness as to worth, unworthiness, wickedness, iniquity; and then the consequences of iniquity — adversity, calamity, affliction (Psalms 55:4; Proverbs 22:8; Psalms 90:10; Job 15:35). The Septuagint renders it κόπος kopos — “labor,” or “trouble.” The Vulgate says, Nihil in terra, sine causa — “there is nothing on the earth without a cause.”

The general sense is plain. It is that afflictions are not to be ascribed to chance, or that they are not without intelligent design. They do not come up like thistles, brambles, and thorns, from the unconscious earth. They have a cause. They are under the direction of God.

The object of Eliphaz in the statement is, to show Job that it was improper to complain and that he should commit his cause to a God of infinite power and wisdom (Job 5:8 and following). Afflictions, Eliphaz says, could not be avoided. Man was born to them.

He ought to expect them, and when they come, they should be submitted to as ordered by an intelligent, wise, and good Being. This is one true ground of consolation in afflictions. They do not come from the unconscious earth; they do not spring up of themselves. Though it is true that man is born to them and must expect them, it is also true that they are ordered in infinite wisdom and always have a design.

Neither does trouble spring from the ground — The Septuagint renders this, “Nor will affliction spring up from the mountains.”