Job 12

Job

1 Then Job replied:
2 “Doubtless you are the only people who matter, and wisdom will die with you!
3 But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things?
4 “I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God and he answered— a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
5 Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
6 The tents of marauders are undisturbed, and those who provoke God are secure— those God has in his hand.[a]
7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.
9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.
11 Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food?
12 Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?
13 “To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.
14 What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; those he imprisons cannot be released.
15 If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.
16 To him belong strength and insight; both deceived and deceiver are his.
17 He leads rulers away stripped and makes fools of judges.
18 He takes off the shackles put on by kings and ties a loincloth[b] around their waist.
19 He leads priests away stripped and overthrows officials long established.
20 He silences the lips of trusted advisers and takes away the discernment of elders.
21 He pours contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.
22 He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light.
23 He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them.
24 He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he makes them wander in a trackless waste.
25 They grope in darkness with no light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.

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Cross References 50

  • 1. Job 15:8; Job 17:10
  • 2. Job 13:2; Job 15:9
  • 3. S Genesis 38:23; Job 21:3
  • 4. S Job 6:14; S Job 11:3; S Job 16:10; S Job 19:14
  • 5. Psalms 91:15
  • 6. S Genesis 6:9; S Job 6:29; S Job 15:16
  • 7. Psalms 123:4
  • 8. Psalms 17:5; Psalms 37:31; Psalms 38:16; Psalms 66:9; Psalms 73:2; Psalms 94:18
  • 9. S Job 5:24; Job 22:18
  • 10. S Job 9:24; Job 21:9
  • 11. Job 35:11 "fn"
  • 12. Matthew 6:26
  • 13. Job 18:3; Romans 1:20
  • 14. Isaiah 1:3
  • 15. S Job 9:24; Isaiah 41:20
  • 16. Daniel 5:23
  • 17. S Genesis 2:7; S Numbers 16:22; S Job 11:20; Job 27:3; Job 33:4; Acts 17:28
  • 18. Job 34:3
  • 19. S 1 Kings 4:2; Job 15:10
  • 20. ver 20; Job 17:4; Job 32:7,9; Job 34:4,10
  • 21. Job 11:6; Proverbs 21:30; Isaiah 45:9
  • 22. S Job 9:4; S Jeremiah 32:19; 1 Corinthians 1:24
  • 23. S Numbers 23:19; 1 Kings 3:12; Job 32:8; Job 38:36; Proverbs 2:6; Isaiah 40:13-14; Daniel 1:17
  • 24. Job 16:9; Job 19:10
  • 25. Deuteronomy 13:16; Job 37:7; Psalms 127:1; Isaiah 24:20; Isaiah 25:2; Ezekiel 26:14
  • 26. S Job 9:3; Isaiah 22:22; Revelation 3:7
  • 27. Job 28:25; Isaiah 40:12; 1 Kings 8:35
  • 28. S Deuteronomy 28:22; S 1 Kings 17:1
  • 29. S Genesis 7:24; Genesis 7:11
  • 30. S Job 9:4
  • 31. 2 Chronicles 18:22; Job 13:7,9; Job 27:4; Romans 2:11
  • 32. ver 19; Job 19:9; Isaiah 20:4
  • 33. S Job 3:14; 1 Corinthians 1:20
  • 34. Psalms 107:14; Psalms 116:16; Nahum 1:13
  • 35. ver 21; Job 34:18; Psalms 107:40; Isaiah 5:27; Isaiah 40:23
  • 36. S ver 17
  • 37. S Deuteronomy 24:15; S Job 9:24; Job 14:20; Job 22:8; Job 24:12,22; Job 34:20,28; Job 35:9; Isaiah 2:22; Isaiah 31:8; Isaiah 40:17,23; Jeremiah 25:18; Daniel 2:21,34; Luke 1:52
  • 38. S ver 12,24; Daniel 4:33-34; Job 32:9
  • 39. S ver 18; S Isaiah 34:12
  • 40. S Job 3:15
  • 41. 1 Corinthians 4:5
  • 42. Job 3:5
  • 43. Psalms 139:12; Daniel 2:22
  • 44. Psalms 2:1; Psalms 46:6; Isaiah 13:4; Jeremiah 25:9
  • 45. S Exodus 34:24; Psalms 107:38; Isaiah 9:3; Isaiah 26:15; Isaiah 54:3
  • 46. S Job 5:12; Acts 17:26
  • 47. S ver 20
  • 48. Psalms 107:40
  • 49. S Deuteronomy 28:29; Job 18:6; Job 21:17; Job 29:3; Job 5:14
  • 50. Psalms 107:27; Isaiah 24:20

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Or "those whose god is in their own hand"
  • [b]. Or "shackles of kings" / "and ties a belt"

Job 12 Commentaries

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