Job 36:12

12 But if they do not listen, they shall perish by the sword, and die without knowledge.

Job 36:12 Meaning and Commentary

Job 36:12

But if they obey not
Who seem to be righteous and are not; and when afflicted are not submissive to the will of God; attend not to the voice of his providence; receive no instruction thereby; but kick against the pricks, and rebel, against God; complain of him, and murmur at his dealings with them:

they shall perish by the sword;
or they shall pass away out of the world by it, or by some missive weapon: they shall die a violent death, by the sword of justice, of the civil magistrate, or by the sword of men; or, as a Jewish commentator F18 paraphrases it, by the dart of death, by the sword of Satan, they shall pass out of this world;

and they shall die without knowledge;
without knowledge of their death being near, it coming upon them suddenly and at unawares; or without knowledge of themselves and of their miserable and lost estate; and without knowledge of Christ, and of God in Christ, and of the way of salvation by him. Or they shall perish for lack of knowledge; because they have none; through ignorance and that affected; they know not nor will they understand, but despise the means of knowledge, and hate instruction.


FOOTNOTES:

F18 R. Simeon, Bar Tzemach.

Job 36:12 In-Context

10 He opens their ears to instruction, and commands that they return from iniquity.
11 If they listen, and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness.
12 But if they do not listen, they shall perish by the sword, and die without knowledge.
13 "The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them.
14 They die in their youth, and their life ends in shame.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.