Job 12:25

25 They grope in the dark without light; and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

Job 12:25 Meaning and Commentary

Job 12:25

They grope in the dark without light
Like blind men, as the men of Sodom, when they were struck with blindness; or "they grope", or "feel the dark, and not light" F7, as the Targum; as the Egyptian, did when such gross darkness was upon them as might be felt:

and he maketh them to stagger like [a] drunken [man];
that has lost his sight, his senses, and his feet, and knows not where he is, which way to go, nor how to keep on his legs, but reels to and fro, and is at the utmost loss what to do; all this is said of the heads or chief of the people, in consequence of their hearts being taken away, and so left destitute of wisdom and strength.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 (rwa alw Kvx wvvmy) "palpant tenebras et non lucem", Vatablus, Mercerus, Drusius, Schultens.

Job 12:25 In-Context

23 He makes nations great, and he destroys them: he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
25 They grope in the dark without light; and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the 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.