Table of Contents
Job 12
Job 12
1 And Job answered and said,
2 No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.
3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?
4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.
5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.
6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:
8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
9 Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?
10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.
11 Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?
12 With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.
13 With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.
14 Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
15 Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
16 With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17 He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools.
18 He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle.
19 He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty.
20 He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged.
21 He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.
22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.
23 He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again.
24 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.
25 They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.
Notes
Cross Reference
Concordance
Commentary
Rashi
Verse 2
<html><b>wisdom shall perish</b> When you die, all wisdom shall perish with you because all wisdom is in you, but I too have intelligence like you.</html>
Verse 3
<html><b>and with whom are there none comparable to these?</b> (Who is it who does not know like these) that the Holy One, blessed be He, has power to perform His will and to allow the tranquility of the wicked to last? You are only mocking me, and I am…</html>
Verse 4
<html><b>a laughingstock to his friend</b> He calls to the Holy One, blessed be He, and He answers him concerning the pain of their provocation. Now what does He answer him? To give the righteous laughter. <b>completely</b> Heb. תָּמִים, perfectly. <b>that the completely righteous will have laughter</b> That is the answer that He will reply with, and I know that it is as you said (8:21), (“He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,”) for…</html>
Verse 5
<html><b>A brand of contempt</b> The fire of Gehinnom stands for one who is tranquil in his thoughts, saying, “I will have peace.” <b>prepared</b> The one who is tranquil in his thoughts is destined to be among those who stumble, whose foot slips.</html>
Verse 6
<html><b>prosper</b> I know that at times tents will prosper, namely those of the Kedarites who dwell in tents in the deserts, and who are robbers, as it is stated (Gen. 16:12): “a free man among men; his hand shall be against every man.” <b>are secure</b> Those who provoke God have perfection, anyone to whom the Rock brought peace with His hand, whether he is good or bad.</html>
Verse 11
<html><b>Does not the ear discern words</b> So why did the listeners not know this, as the palate tastes to eat?</html>
Verse 12
<html><b>In elders there is wisdom etc.</b> to know that with Him is wisdom.</html>
Verse 15
<html><b>He sends it away and it overturns the earth</b> As His agents, as He did to the generation of Enosh, when He inundated a third of the world.</html>
Verse 16
<html><b>His are the misled</b> The man who is misled. <b>and the misleader</b> The Adversary, who misleads.</html>
Verse 17
<html><b>madness</b> Heb. שולל. It is a noun, ‘madness.’ He leads them away with madness when He wishes to confuse and destroy their wisdom, as in (Isa. 59: 15), “and he who turns away from evil is considered mad (משתולל)”; (Ps. 76:6), “The stouthearted became mad אשתוללוּ.” The “tav” in משתולל and in אשתוללוּ [is inserted because] so is the structure of the Hebrew language: in a word that has a radical “shin” or “sammech,” and which is used in passive or reflexive conjugation, a “tav” is placed after the first radical, like (Ecc. 8:10), “and they will be forgotten (וישתכחו) in the city”; (Micah 6: 16), “For the statutes of Omri are kept (וישתמר)”; (Exod. 9:17), “You still exalt yourself very high (מסתולל) above My people”; (Ecc. 12:5), “and the grasshopper shall drag himself along (ויסתבל).” <b>Me makes…fools</b> Heb. יהולל, He makes mad, an expression of folly and foolishness.</html>
Verse 18
<html><b>He loosens the bond of kings</b> He removed the bond of the yoke from Nebuchadnezzar and dethroned him. <b>and He binds a girdle to their loins</b> At his start, when He desired him, He girded his loins, and imbued him with strength for kingship.</html>
Verse 19
<html><b>princes</b> Heb. כהנים, like (Exod. 3:1), “the prince (כהן) of Midian”; (Gen. 41:45), “the prince (כהן) of On.”</html>
Verse 20
<html><b>from trusty men</b> Even from trusty men. (Even to those who believe in Him. Etz Chayim ms.) Sometimes his lips become confused, speaking improper words, e.g. Abraham (about whom it is written:] (Gen. 15:6), And he believed in the Lord.” And later, he stumbled [by saying,] “How will I know?”</html>
Verse 21
<html><b>and loosens the belt of the strong</b> And He loosens the belt of the strong. He opens their belt to weaken them, like (Ps. 109:19), “and for the girdle (ולמזח) wherewith he is girded continually.” <b>the strong</b> Heb. אפיקים, like (below 40:18), “as strong as (אפיקי) copper; (ibid. 41:7), “He is proud of the strength of (אפיקי) His scales.”</html>
Verse 23
<html><b>He makes nations great and destroys them</b> Heb. משׂגיא. Some say, as He did to the Egyptians when they overtook Israel before Baal-zephon (Exod. 14:9). They erred and said, “You should know that He agreed with us, to drown them in the sea as we decreed, ‘Every son that is born you shall cast into the river’ (ibid. 1:22), and [they also said] that their deity Baal-zephon is mighty, seeing that no acts of judgment were performed upon it, as [they were upon) all the [other] gods of Egypt, and the Omnipresent caused them to be misled in order to drown them. But this explanation is not the main one, for were it so, it should have been dotted on the right, מַשְׁגִיא like שׁוגֶה, the misled. This is the main explanation: It means making great, an expression of שׂגיא כֹח, having great strength. He makes the nations great and causes them to prosper, and their heart becomes haughty with their prosperity, so that [the fact] that they prosper is their destruction. <b>He spreads out</b> He multiplies them to spread them out over the earth and to cover them.</html>
Verse 24
<html><b>in a wasteland not a road</b> In a wasteland that is not a road.</html>