Albert Barnes Commentary Job 12:14

"Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again; He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening." — Job 12:14 (ASV)

Behold, he breaks down - None can repair what he pulls down. Cities and towns he can devote to ruin by fire, or earthquake, or the pestilence, and so completely destroy them that they can never be rebuilt. We may now refer to such illustrations as Sodom, Babylon, Petra, Tyre, Herculaneum, and Pompeii, as full proof of what is affirmed here.

He shuts up a man - He can shut up a man in such difficulties and straits that he cannot extricate himself . The Chaldee renders this, “he shuts up a man in the grave (בקבורתא) and it cannot be opened.” But the more correct idea is that God has complete control over a man, and that he can so hedge up his way that he cannot help himself.