Job 12

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¹Then Job spoke again: ²“You people really know everything, don’t you? And when you die, wisdom will die with you! ✦ ³Well, I know a few things myself— and you’re no better than I am. Who doesn’t know these things you’ve been saying? ✦ ⁴Yet my friends laugh at me, for I call on God and expect an answer. I am a just and blameless man, yet they laugh at me. ✦ ⁵People who are at ease mock those in trouble. They give a push to people who are stumbling. ✦ ⁶But robbers are left in peace, and those who provoke God live in safety— though God keeps them in his power. ✦ ⁷“Just ask the animals, and they will teach you. Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. ✦ ⁸Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you. Let the fish in the sea speak to you. ⁹For they all know that my disaster has come from the hand of the Lord. ✦ ¹⁰For the life of every living thing is in his hand, and the breath of every human being. ✦ ¹¹The ear tests the words it hears just as the mouth distinguishes between foods. ✦ ¹²Wisdom belongs to the aged, and understanding to the old. ✦ ¹³“But true wisdom and power are found in God; counsel and understanding are his. ✦ ¹⁴What he destroys cannot be rebuilt. When he puts someone in prison, there is no escape. ✦ ¹⁵If he holds back the rain, the earth becomes a desert. If he releases the waters, they flood the earth. ✦ ¹⁶Yes, strength and wisdom are his; deceivers and deceived are both in his power. ✦ ¹⁷He leads counselors away, stripped of good judgment; wise judges become fools. ✦ ¹⁸He removes the royal robe of kings. They are led away with ropes around their waist. ✦ ¹⁹He leads priests away, stripped of status; he overthrows those with long years in power. ✦ ²⁰He silences the trusted adviser and removes the insight of the elders. ✦ ²¹He pours disgrace upon princes and disarms the strong. ✦ ²²“He uncovers mysteries hidden in darkness; he brings light to the deepest gloom. ✦ ²³He builds up nations, and he destroys them. He expands nations, and he abandons them. ✦ ²⁴He strips kings of understanding and leaves them wandering in a pathless wasteland. ✦ ²⁵They grope in the darkness without a light. He makes them stagger like drunkards. ✦

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Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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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