Job 12

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¹Then Job answered: ²“Truly then you are the people with whom wisdom itself will die! ✦ ³But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these? ✦ ⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock. ✦ ⁵The one at ease scorns misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping. ✦ ⁶The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure—those who carry their god in their hands. ✦ ⁷But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you. ✦ ⁸Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; let the fish of the sea inform you. ⁹Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? ✦ ¹⁰The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind. ✦ ¹¹Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food? ✦ ¹²Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life. ✦ ¹³Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His. ✦ ¹⁴What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released. ✦ ¹⁵If He holds back the waters, they dry up, and if He releases them, they overwhelm the land. ✦ ¹⁶True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His. ✦ ¹⁷He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools of judges. ✦ ¹⁸He loosens the bonds placed by kings and fastens a belt around their waists. ✦ ¹⁹He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows the established. ✦ ²⁰He deprives the trusted of speech and takes away the discernment of elders. ✦ ²¹He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty. ✦ ²²He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into light. ✦ ²³He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, then disperses them. ✦ ²⁴He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland. ✦ ²⁵They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

Job 11 ·7 Job 12 ·6 Job 17 ·6 Job 6 ·5 Ps 107 ·5 Job 34 ·4 Job 9 ·4 Job 16 ·4

Christ at the center

Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.

How Job 12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Job 12YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Job 12David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Job 12Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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