Job 12:1-10

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 "No doubt you are the people, And wisdom will die with you!

3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these?

4 "I am one mocked by his friends, Who called on God, and He answered him, The just and blameless who is ridiculed.

5 A lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease; It is made ready for those whose feet slip.

6 The tents of robbers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure-- In what God provides by His hand.

7 "But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you.

9 Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this,

10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?

Job 12:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 12

In this and the two following chapter Job makes answer to Zophar's discourse in the former; who having represented him as an ignorant man, he resents it, and begins his defence with a biting sarcasm on him and his friends, as being self-conceited, and having an high opinion of their own wisdom, as if none had any but themselves, Job 12:1,2; and puts in his claim for a share with them, as being not at all inferior to them, Job 12:3; and then refutes their notions, that it always goes well with good men, and ill with bad men; whereas the reverse is the truth, Job 12:4-6; and which they might learn from the brute creatures; or he sends them to them, to observe to them, that the best things they had knowledge of concerning God and his providence, and of his wisdom therein, were common notions that everyone had, and might be learned from beasts, birds, and fishes; particularly, that all things in the whole universe are made by God, and sustained by him, and are under his direction, and at his disposal, Job 12:7-10; and such things might as easily be searched, examined, and judged of, as sounds are tried by the ear, and food by the mouth, Job 12:11; and seeing it is usual among men, at least it may be expected that men in years should have a considerable share of wisdom and knowledge, it might be strongly inferred from thence, without any difficulty, that the most perfect and consummate wisdom was in God, Job 12:12,13; whence he passes on to discourse most admirably and excellently of the wisdom and power of God in the dispensations of his providence, in a variety of instances; which shows his knowledge of his perfections, ways, and works, was not inferior to that of his friends, Job 12:14-25.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or disaster