Job

Job 12

25 verses · Wisdom · Old Testament

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.

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What others are saying

4 commentators · 57 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17143

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1–5

The reproofs Job here gives to his friends, whether they were just or no, were very sharp, and may serve for a rebuke to all that are proud and scornful, and an exposure of their folly. I. He upbraids them with their conceitedness of themselves, and the good…

v. 6–11

Job's friends all of them went upon this principle, that wicked people cannot prosper long in this world, but some remarkable judgment or other will suddenly light on them: Zophar had concluded with it, that the eyes of the wicked shall fail, Job 11:20. This…

v. 12–25

This is a noble discourse of Job's concerning the wisdom, power, and sovereignty of God, in ordering and disposing of all the affairs of the children of men, according to the counsel of his own will, which none dares gainsay or can resist. Take both him and…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176325

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

And Job answered and said. In reply to Zophar, and in defence of himself; what is recorded in this and the two following chapters.

v. 2

No doubt but ye are the people,.... Which is said not seriously, meaning that they were but of the common people, that are generally ignorant, and have but little knowledge, at least of things sublime, especially in matters of religion; wherefore, though they…

v. 3

But I have understanding as well as you,.... A natural understanding, or an understanding of natural things, which distinguishes a man from a brute; and a spiritual understanding, an understanding enlightened by the spirit of God, which is naturally dark as…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–18757

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 1–3

1 The Job began, and said: 2 Truly then ye are the people, And wisdom shall die with you! 3 I also have a heart as well as you; I do not stand behind you; And to whom should not such things be known? The admission, which is strengthened by כּי אמנם, truly…

v. 4–6

4 I must be a mockery to my own friend, I who called on Eloah and He heard me; A mockery - the just, the godly man. 5 Contempt belongs to misfortune, according to the ideas of the prosperous; It awaits those who are ready to slip. 6 Tents of the destroyer…

v. 7–10

7 But ask now even the beasts - they shall teach it thee; And the birds of heaven - they shall declare it to thee: 8 Or look thoughtfully to the ground - it shall teach it thee; And the fish of the sea shall tell it thee. 9 Who would not recognise in all this…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 187122

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 3

not inferior--not vanquished in argument and "wisdom" (Job 13:2). such things as these--such commonplace maxims as you so pompously adduce.

v. 4

The unfounded accusations of Job's friends were a "mockery" of him. He alludes to Zophar's word, "mockest" (Job 11:3). neighbour, who calleth, &c.--rather, "I who call upon God that he may answer me favorably" [UMBREIT].

v. 5

Rather, "a torch" (lamp) is an object of contempt in the thoughts of him who rests securely (is at ease), though it was prepared for the falterings of the feet [UMBREIT] (Pro 25:19). "Thoughts" and "feet" are in contrast; also rests "securely," and…

World English Bible — Public domain