Login Go Premium

Job 12

Job Chides His Accusers

¹Then Job responded,

²“Truly then you are the people, And with you wisdom will die!

³“But I have intelligence as well as you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these?

⁴“I am a joke to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The just and blameless man is a joke.

⁵“He who is at ease holds disaster in contempt, As prepared for those whose feet slip.

⁶“The tents of the destroyers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure, Whom God brings into their power.

⁷¶“But just ask the animals, and have them teach you; And the birds of the sky, and have them tell you.

⁸“Or speak to the earth, and have it teach you; And have the fish of the sea tell you.

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

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

¹¹“Does the ear not put words to the test, As the palate tastes its food?

¹²“Wisdom is with the aged, And with long life comes understanding.

Job Speaks of the Power of God

¹³¶“Wisdom and might are with Him; Advice and understanding belong to Him.

¹⁴“Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt; He imprisons a person, and there is no release.

¹⁵“Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.

¹⁶“Strength and sound wisdom are with Him. One who goes astray and one who leads astray belong to Him.

¹⁷“He makes advisers walk barefoot And makes fools of judges.

¹⁸“He undoes the binding of kings, And ties a loincloth around their waist.

¹⁹“He makes priests walk barefoot, And overthrows the secure ones.

²⁰“He deprives the trusted ones of speech, And takes away the discernment of the elders.

²¹“He pours contempt on nobles, And loosens the belt of the strong.

²²“He reveals mysteries from the darkness, And brings the deep darkness into light.

²³“He makes the nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away.

²⁴“He deprives the leaders of the earth’s people of intelligence And makes them wander in a pathless wasteland.

²⁵“They grope in darkness with no light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken person.

Job 12 (NASB)

Click verse numbers to view individual verses with commentary

View interlinear text with original Hebrew/Greek →

Job

Chapter 12

12 of 42