Job12
World English Bible · Public Domain
1Then Job answered,
2“No doubt, but you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
3But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who doesn’t know such things as these?
4I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.
5In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.
6The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands.
7“But ask the animals now, and they will teach you; the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
8Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you. The fish of the sea will declare to you.
9Who doesn’t know that in all these, Yahweh’s hand has done this,
10in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?
11Doesn’t the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?
12With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.
13“With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.
14Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
15Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
16With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.
17He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.
18He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a belt.
19He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.
20He removes the speech of those who are trusted, and takes away the understanding of the elders.
21He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the strong.
22He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.
23He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.
24He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
25They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Job 12.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Job reproves his friends. (1–5). The wicked often prosper. (6–11). Job speaks of the wisdom and power of God. (12–25).
vv1-5
Job upbraids his friends with the good opinion they had of their own wisdom compared with his. We are apt to call reproofs reproaches, and to think ourselves mocked when advised and admonished; this is our folly; yet here was colour for this charge. He suspected the true cause of their conduct to be, that they despised him who was fallen into poverty. It is the way of the world. Even the just, upright man, if he comes under a cloud, is looked upon with contempt.
vv6-11
Job appeals to facts. The most audacious robbers, oppressors, and impious wretches, often prosper. Yet this is not by fortune or chance; the Lord orders these things. Worldly prosperity is of small value in his sight: he has better things for his children. Job resolves all into the absolute proprietorship which God has in all the creatures. He demands from his friends liberty to judge of what they had said; he appeals to any fair judgment. (Job 12:12-25)
vv12-25
This is a noble discourse of Job concerning the wisdom, power, and sovereignty of God, in ordering all the affairs of the children of men, according to the counsel of His own will, which none can resist. It were well if wise and good men, who differ about lesser things, would see how it is for their honour and comfort, and the good of others, to dwell most upon the great things in which they agree. Here are no complaints, or reflections. He gives many instances of God's powerful management of the children of men, overruling all their counsels, and overcoming all their oppositions. Having all strength and wisdom, God knows how to make use, even of those who are foolish and bad; otherwise there is so little wisdom and so little honesty in the world, that all had been in confusion and ruin long ago. These important truths were suited to convince the disputants that they were out of their depth in attempting to assign the Lord's reasons for afflicting Job; his ways are unsearchable, and his judgments past finding out. Let us remark what beautiful illustrations there are in the word of God, confirming his sovereignty, and wisdom in that sovereignty: but the highest and infinitely the most important is, that the Lord Jesus was crucified by the malice of the Jews; and who but the Lord could have known that this one event was the salvation of the world?
Key Words
אִיּוֹב: Ijob, the patriarch famous for his patience
עָנָה: properly, to eye or (generally) to heed, i.e. pay attention; by implication, to respond; by extension to begin to speak; specifically to sing, shout, testify, announce
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
אׇמְנָם: verily
עַם: a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock
חׇכְמָה: wisdom (in a good sense)
מוּת: to die (literally or figuratively); causatively, to kill
גַּם: properly, assemblage; used only adverbially also, even, yea, though; often repeated as correl. both...and
לֵבָב: the heart (as the most interior organ);
נָפַל: to fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitive or causative, literal or figurative)
Cross References
Job 12Directly quoted in Psalm 107:40 regarding pouring contempt on princes and wandering in a pathless wilderness.
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Job directly counters Zophar's words about God shutting up a man so none can hinder.
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Psalm 107:27 closely mirrors the imagery of reeling and staggering like a drunken man.
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Parallel Hebrew expression and concept of one's foot slipping in times of sudden adversity.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Proverbs 8:14 declares that counsel, sound wisdom, and strength belong inherently to God.
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Parallel imagery of absolute divine key-holding: He shuts and no one can open.
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Illustrates how the deceived and the deceiver are ultimately under God's sovereign control and purpose.
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Job repeats this claim of equal understanding and not being inferior in the next chapter.
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Job responds directly to Zophar's accusation of mocking by stating he is the one mocked.
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Contrasts the stumble of the faltering foot in darkness with those who are at ease.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Relates to the appeal to the aged and ancient ones for wisdom and traditional understanding.
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Parallels God revealing deep and secret things and knowing what lies in darkness.
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Reflects Job's recurring argument that the earth is given into the hand of the wicked.
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Job repeats this exact proverb later, comparing the ear testing words to the mouth tasting meat.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The curse of groping at noonday in the dark without light under divine judgment.
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