Job 12 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Job Replies: The Lord Has Done This

Job 12:1Then Job answered and said:

Job 12:2“No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.

Job 12:3But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these?

Job 12:4I am a laughingstock to my friends;
I, who called to God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.

Job 12:5

Job 12:5In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
it is ready for those whose feet slip.

Job 12:6

Job 12:6The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hand.[fn]

Job 12:7

Job 12:7“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;

Job 12:8

Job 12:8or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;[fn]
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

Job 12:9

Job 12:9Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?

Job 12:10

Job 12:10In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.

Job 12:11

Job 12:11Does not the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?

Job 12:12

Job 12:12Wisdom is with the aged,
and understanding in length of days.

Job 12:13

Job 12:13“With God[fn] are wisdom and might;
he has counsel and understanding.

Job 12:14

Job 12:14If he tears down, none can rebuild;
if he shuts a man in, none can open.

Job 12:15

Job 12:15If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.

Job 12:16

Job 12:16With him are strength and sound wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.

Job 12:17

Job 12:17He leads counselors away stripped,
and judges he makes fools.

Job 12:18

Job 12:18He looses the bonds of kings
and binds a waistcloth on their hips.

Job 12:19

Job 12:19He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows the mighty.

Job 12:20

Job 12:20He deprives of speech those who are trusted
and takes away the discernment of the elders.

Job 12:21

Job 12:21He pours contempt on princes
and loosens the belt of the strong.

Job 12:22

Job 12:22He uncovers the deeps out of darkness
and brings deep darkness to light.

Job 12:23

Job 12:23He makes nations great, and he destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and leads them away.

Job 12:24

Job 12:24He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
and makes them wander in a trackless waste.

Job 12:25

Job 12:25They grope in the dark without light,
and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(12:6)

The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

(12:8)

Or or speak to the earth, and it will teach you

(12:13)

Hebrew him

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For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

Job Chapter 12 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

Job 12 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Job Replies: The Lord Has Done This

ESV Footnotes

Job Chapter 12 — Additional Translations:

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