Parallel Verses English Standard Version If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open. King James Bible Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. American Standard Version Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again; He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. Douay-Rheims Bible If he pull down, there is no man that can build up: if he shut up a. man, there is none that can open. English Revised Version Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again; he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. Webster's Bible Translation Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. Job 12:14 Parallel Commentary Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament7 But ask now even the beasts - they shall teach it thee; And the birds of heaven - they shall declare it to thee: 8 Or look thoughtfully to the ground - it shall teach it thee; And the fish of the sea shall tell it thee. 9 Who would not recognise in all this That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this, 10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?! The meaning of the whole strophe is perverted if זאת (Job 12:9), is, with Ewald, referred to "the destiny of severe suffering and pain," and if that which precedes is accordingly referred to the testimony of creation to God as its author. Since, as a glance at what follows shows, Job further on praises God as the governor of the universe, it may be expected that the reference is here to God as the creator and preserver of the world, which seems to be the meaning of the words. Job himself expresses the purpose of this hymn of confession, Job 12:2., Job 13:1.: he will show the friends that the majesty of God, before which he ought, according to their demands, to humble himself in penitence, is not less known to him than to them; and with ואולם, verum enim vero, he passes over to this subject when he begins his third answer with the following thought: The perception in which you pride yourselves I also possess; true, I am an object of scornful contempt to you, who are as little able to understand the suffering of the godly as the prosperity of the godless, nevertheless what you know I also know: ask now, etc. Bildad had appealed to the sayings of the ancients, which have the long experience of the past in their favour, to support the justice of the divine government; Job here appeals to the absoluteness of the divine rule over creation. In form, this strophe is the counterpart of Job 8:8-10 in the speech of Bildad, and somewhat also of Job 11:7-9 in that of Zophar. The working of God, which infinitely transcends human power and knowledge, is the sermon which is continuously preached by all created things; they all proclaim the omnipotence and wisdom of the Creator. The plural בּהמות is followed by the verb that refers to it, in the singular, in favour of which Genesis 49:22 is the favourite example among old expositors (Ges. 146, 3). On the other hand, the verb might follow the collective עוף in the plural, according to Ges. 146, 1. The plural, however, is used only in Job 12:8, because there the verb precedes instead of following its subject. According to the rule Ges. 128, 2, the jussive form of the fut. follows the imperative. In the midst of this enumeration of created things, שׂיח, as a substantive, seems to signify the plants - and especially as Arab. šı̂h even now, in the neighbourhood of Job's ancient habitation, is the name of a well-known mountain-plant - under whose shade a meagre vegetation is preserved even in the hot season (vid., on Job 30:4.). But (1) שׂיח as subst. is gen. masc. Genesis 2:5); (2) instead of לערץ, in order to describe a plant that is found on the ground, or one rooted in the ground, it must be על־הארץ or בארץ; (3) the mention of plants between the birds and fishes would be strange. It may therefore be taken as the imperative: speak to the earth (lxx, Targ., Vulg., and most others); or, which I prefer, since the Aramaic construction לו סח, narravit ei, does not occur elsewhere in Hebrew (although perhaps implicite, Proverbs 6:22, תשׂיחך equals לך תשׂיח, favulabitur, or confabulabitur tibi), as a pregnant expression: think, i.e., look meditatively to the earth (Ewald), since שׂוּח (שׂיח), like הגה, combines the significations of quiet or articulate meditation on a subject. The exhortation directs attention not to the earth in itself, but to the small living things which move about on the ground, comprehended in the collective name רמשׂ, syn. שׁרץ (creeping things), in the record of creation. All these creatures, though without reason and speech, still utter a language which is heard by every intelligent man. Renan, after Ewald, translates erroneously: qui ne sait parmi tous ces tres. They do not even possess knowledge, but they offer instruction, and are a means of knowledge; בּ with ידע, like Genesis 15:8; Genesis 42:33, and freq. All the creatures named declare that the hand of Jehovah has made "this," whatever we see around us, τὸ βλεπόμενον, Hebrews 11:3. In the same manner in Isaiah 66:2; Jeremiah 14:22, כּל־אלּה is used of the world around us. In the hand of God, i.e., in His power, because His workmanship, are the souls of all living things, and the spirit (that which came direct from God) of all men; every order of life, high and low, owes its origin and continuance to Him. אישׁ is the individual, and in this connection, in which נפשׁ and רוּח ( equals נשׁמה) are certainly not unintentionally thus separated, the individual man. Creation is the school of knowledge, and man is the learner. And this knowledge forces itself upon one's attention: quis non cognoverit? The perf. has this subjunctive force also elsewhere in interrogative clauses, e.g., Psalm 11:3 (vid., on Genesis 21:7). That the name of God, JEHOVAH, for once escapes the poet here, is to be explained from the phrase "the hand of Jehovah hath made this," being a somewhat proverbial expression (comp. Isaiah 41:20; Isaiah 66:2). Job now refers to the sayings of the fathers, the authority of which, as being handed down from past generations, Bildad had maintained in his opposition to Job. Treasury of Scripture Knowledge he breaketh Job 9:12,13 Behold, he takes away, who can hinder him? who will say to him, What do you... Job 11:10 If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him? he shutteth Job 16:11 God has delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked. *marg: Romans 11:32 For God has concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy on all. *marg: up. Heb. upon Cross References Revelation 3:7 "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. Job 19:10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, and my hope has he pulled up like a tree. Job 37:7 He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he made may know it. Isaiah 22:22 And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. Isaiah 25:2 For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the foreigners' palace is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt. Ezekiel 26:14 I will make you a bare rock. You shall be a place for the spreading of nets. You shall never be rebuilt, for I am the LORD; I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. Jump to Previous Breaketh Breaks Building Built Imprisons Loose Open Opened Opening Pulled Rebuild Rebuilt Release Released Shut Shuts Shutteth TearsJump to Next Breaketh Breaks Building Built Imprisons Loose Open Opened Opening Pulled Rebuild Rebuilt Release Released Shut Shuts Shutteth TearsLinks Job 12:14 NIVJob 12:14 NLT Job 12:14 ESV Job 12:14 NASB Job 12:14 KJV Job 12:14 Bible Apps Job 12:14 Biblia Paralela Job 12:14 Chinese Bible Job 12:14 French Bible Job 12:14 German Bible Bible Hub ESV Text Edition: 2016. The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. |