English · ASV

Job 12

Listen to this chapter
0:00 0:00

Job Rebukes His Friends' Arrogance 1–6

1
Then Job answered and said,
2
No doubt but ye are the people, And wisdom shall die with you. ​
3
But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yea, who knoweth not such things as these?
4
I am as one that is a laughing-stock to his neighbor, I who called upon God, and he answered: The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock. ​
5
In the thought of him that is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; It is ready for them whose foot slippeth. ​
6
The tents of robbers prosper, And they that provoke God are secure; Into whose hand God bringeth abundantly. ​

Nature Testifies to God's Rule 7–12

7
But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; And the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee: ​
8
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
9
Who knoweth not in all these, That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this, ​
10
In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? ​
11
Doth not the ear try words, Even as the palate tasteth its food?
12
With aged men is wisdom, And in length of days understanding. ​

God's Uncontrollable Sovereignty 13–25

13
With Godis wisdom and might; He hath counsel and understanding. ​
14
Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again; He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. ​
15
Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth. ​
16
With him is strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his. ​
17
He leadeth counsellors away stripped, And judges maketh he fools.
18
He looseth the bond of kings, And he bindeth their loins with a girdle. ​
19
He leadeth priests away stripped, And overthroweth the mighty.
20
He removeth the speech of the trusty, And taketh away the understanding of the elders. ​
21
He poureth contempt upon princes, And looseth the belt of the strong.
22
He uncovereth deep things out of darkness, And bringeth out to light the shadow of death. ​
23
He increaseth the nations, and he destroyeth them: He enlargeth the nations, and he leadeth them captive. ​
24
He taketh away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, And causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. ​
25
They grope in the dark without light; And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Job 12

Verse 2

ye are the people — Irony: the friends speak as though they were the whole 'people' (am) and wisdom would die with them. Job answers in v.3, 'I have understanding as well as you', and later says of them, 'I cannot find one wise man among you' (17:10).

Verse 4

who calleth upon God, and he answereth him — Job once did what the promise in Ps 91:15 describes, 'He shall call upon me, and I will answer him', and is now 'laughed to scorn' by his neighbour (rea, a friend). 'Upright' is tamim, whole or blameless, the character given him in 1:1 as 'perfect and upright' (tam, from the same root).

Verse 5

a lamp despised — The 'lamp' (lappid, a torch or flame) is the man who is 'ready to slip' (maad, to totter), held in contempt by one 'at ease' (shaanan, secure). Ps 123:4 uses the same word: 'filled with the scorning of those that are at ease'.

Verse 6

The tabernacles of robbers prosper — 'Tabernacles' are tents, and the 'robbers' (shadad, to plunder) live in them undisturbed, 'secure' even while they 'provoke God'. Job sets this against the friends' rule that the wicked fall quickly. Jeremiah asks the same question: 'Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?' (Jer 12:1).

Verse 7

ask now the beasts — Job sends the friends to the creatures for what he said in v.3 they already know. 'The ox knoweth his owner' (Isa 1:3), and Elihu later asks, 'Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth' (35:11). The lesson of vv.7–9 is stated in v.9.

Verse 9

the hand of the LORD — The only place between 2:7 and 38:1 where the divine name itself is used, whether in the speeches or in the prose around them. The words recur in Isa 41:20, 'the hand of the LORD hath done this', and the Maker named here holds the breath of every creature (v.10).

Verse 10

the soul of every living thing — Nephesh, the living creature's life, and ruach, breath or spirit, are both said to be 'in his hand'. Job says the same of himself, 'the spirit of God is in my nostrils' (27:3), and Paul tells Athens that God 'giveth to all life, and breath, and all things' (Acts 17:25).

Verse 12

With the ancient is wisdom — Job grants the friends' own rule, which Bildad pressed at 8:8 and Eliphaz at 15:10 ('the grayheaded and very aged men'). Verse 13 then says where wisdom is found in full. Elihu later answers that 'Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment' (32:9).

Verse 13

With him is wisdom and strength — Four words are given to God as his own: chokmah (wisdom), gevurah (might), etsah (counsel) and tevunah (understanding). Wisdom says in Prov 8:14, 'Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.' Daniel blesses God for the same pair: 'wisdom and might are his' (Dan 2:20).

Verse 14

he shutteth up a man — What God breaks down or shuts is not reopened by anyone else. The key that 'shall open, and none shall shut' is laid on Eliakim in Isa 22:20–22, and Christ is 'he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth' (Rev 3:7).

Verse 15

he withholdeth the waters — Drought and flood are both in his hand. Elijah prayed 'that it might not rain', and 'it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months' (Jas 5:17). 'Overturn' is haphak, the verb of Gen 19:25, 'he overthrew those cities'.

Verse 16

the deceived and the deceiver — The two Hebrew verbs are shagag, to go astray, and shagah, to lead astray. Both are within his rule. At Ahab's court the lying spirit came only by his permission: 'the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets' (1 Kgs 22:23).

Verse 18

looseth the bond of kings — Musar, 'bond', is elsewhere chastening or restraint; however the line is read, kings are loosed or bound at his word. 'He removeth kings, and setteth up kings' (Dan 2:21). Rulers are as much in his hand as the aged counsellors of vv.12 and 20.

Verse 20

the speech of the trusty — 'Trusty' (aman) are those who are relied on, and 'speech' is literally the lip. 'Understanding' is taam, literally taste, the power to judge. The aged whose wisdom was granted in v.12 lose it when he takes it away; compare 32:9.

Verse 22

deep things out of darkness — 'Shadow of death' is tsalmaveth, the word of Ps 23:4. Nothing is hidden from him: 'He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness' (Dan 2:22), and the Lord 'will bring to light the hidden things of darkness' (1 Cor 4:5).

Verse 23

increaseth the nations — Both pairs of verbs describe nations that grow and perish, spread out and are led away (nachah, the verb of 'God led them not' in Ex 13:17). Paul says at Athens that God 'hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation' (Acts 17:26).

Verse 24

the chief of the people of the earth — 'Heart' (lev) is mind or understanding, and 'wilderness' is tohu, the word translated 'without form' in Gen 1:2. Ps 107:40 repeats the line of princes: 'causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way'.