Job 12 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

Job Answers His Critics

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.
Indeed, who does not know such things as these?

Job 12:4

Job 12:4“I am one mocked by his friends,
Who called on God, and He answered him,
The just and blameless who is ridiculed.

Job 12:5

Job 12:5A lamp[fn] is despised in the thought of one who is at ease;
It is made ready for those whose feet slip.

Job 12:6

Job 12:6The tents of robbers prosper,
And those who provoke God are secure—
In what God provides by His hand.

Job 12:7

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

Job 12:8

Job 12:8Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you;
And the fish of the sea will explain 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 whose 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
And the mouth taste its food?

Job 12:12

Job 12:12Wisdom is with aged men,
And with length of days, understanding.

Job 12:13

Job 12:13“With Him are wisdom and strength,
He has counsel and understanding.

Job 12:14

Job 12:14If He breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt;
If He imprisons a man, there can be no release.

Job 12:15

Job 12:15If He withholds the waters, they dry up;
If He sends them out, they overwhelm the earth.

Job 12:16

Job 12:16With Him are strength and prudence.
The deceived and the deceiver are His.

Job 12:17

Job 12:17He leads counselors away plundered,
And makes fools of the judges.

Job 12:18

Job 12:18He loosens the bonds of kings,
And binds their waist with a belt.

Job 12:19

Job 12:19He leads princes[fn] away plundered,
And overthrows the mighty.

Job 12:20

Job 12:20He deprives the trusted ones of speech,
And takes away the discernment of the elders.

Job 12:21

Job 12:21He pours contempt on princes,
And disarms the mighty.

Job 12:22

Job 12:22He uncovers deep things out of darkness,
And brings the shadow of death to light.

Job 12:23

Job 12:23He makes nations great, and destroys them;
He enlarges nations, and guides them.

Job 12:24

Job 12:24He takes away the understanding[fn] of the chiefs of the people of the earth,
And makes them wander in a pathless wilderness.

Job 12:25

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

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

NKJV Footnotes

(12:5)

Or disaster

(12:19)

Literally priests, but not in a technical sense

(12:24)

Literally heart

The text of the New King James Version (NKJV) appearing on or deriving from this or any other web page is for personal use only. Any other use of the NKJV must be in conformity with the Quotation Policy for the New King James Version. For more information about the New King James Version, the Quotation Policy, and for inquiries about permission to use the New King James Version, go to Thomas Nelson, Inc..

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