Bible Chapter Summary
Job 12 Summary
Job Claims Equal Understanding
Job responds that his friends are not uniquely wise and that he possesses understanding equal to theirs. He observes that the righteous are mocked while the wicked prosper, and he appeals to nature itself as witness to God's power—animals, earth, and sea all declare the works of the LORD. Job then describes how God's omnipotent hand controls all things, breaking down the mighty, transforming nations, and stripping away understanding from leaders and elders.
Key themes
Key verses
Job 12:3
“But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?”
Job 12:7-8
“But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.”
Job 12:13-16
“With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding. Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth. With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.”
Job 12:22-25
“He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death. He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again. He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.”
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