Job Rebukes His Friends and Brings His Case to God

12:1 Then Job answered: 12:2 “Without a doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. 12:3 I also have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these? 12:4 I am a laughingstock to my friends, I, who called on God and whom he answered – a righteous and blameless man is a laughingstock! 12:5 For calamity, there is derision (according to the ideas of the fortunate) – a fate for those whose feet slip! 12:6 But the tents of robbers are peaceful, and those who provoke God are confident – who carry their god in their hands. Knowledge of God’s Wisdom 12:7 “But now, ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the sky and they will tell you. 12:8 Or speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea declare to you. 12:9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, 12:10 in whose hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all the human race. 12:11 Does not the ear test words, as the tongue tastes food? 12:12 Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding? 12:13 “With God are wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his. 12:14 If he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt; if he imprisons a person, there is no escape. 12:15 If he holds back the waters, then they dry up; if he releases them, they destroy the land. 12:16 With him are strength and prudence; both the one who goes astray and the one who misleads are his. 12:17 He leads counselors away stripped and makes judges into fools. 12:18 He loosens the bonds of kings and binds a loincloth around their waist. 12:19 He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the potentates. 12:20 He deprives the trusted advisers of speech and takes away the discernment of elders. 12:21 He pours contempt on noblemen and disarms the powerful. 12:22 He reveals the deep things of darkness, and brings deep shadows into the light. 12:23 He makes nations great, and destroys them; he extends the boundaries of nations and disperses them. 12:24 He deprives the leaders of the earth of their understanding; he makes them wander in a trackless desert waste. 12:25 They grope about in darkness without light; he makes them stagger like drunkards. 13:1 “Indeed, my eyes have seen all this, my ears have heard and understood it. 13:2 What you know, I know also; I am not inferior to you! 13:3 But I wish to speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God. 13:4 But you, however, are inventors of lies; all of you are worthless physicians! 13:5 If only you would keep completely silent! For you, that would be wisdom. 13:6 “Listen now to my argument, and be attentive to my lips’ contentions. 13:7 Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for him? 13:8 Will you show him partiality? Will you argue the case for God? 13:9 Would it turn out well if he would examine you? Or as one deceives a man would you deceive him? 13:10 He would certainly rebuke you if you secretly showed partiality! 13:11 Would not his splendor terrify you and the fear he inspires fall on you? 13:12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay. 13:13 “Refrain from talking with me so that I may speak; then let come to me what may. 13:14 Why do I put myself in peril, and take my life in my hands? 13:15 Even if he slays me, I will hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face! 13:16 Moreover, this will become my deliverance, for no godless person would come before him. 13:17 Listen carefully to my words; let your ears be attentive to my explanation. 13:18 See now, I have prepared my case; I know that I am right. 13:19 Who will contend with me? If anyone can, I will be silent and die. 13:20 Only in two things spare me, O God, and then I will not hide from your face: 13:21 Remove your hand far from me and stop making me afraid with your terror. 13:22 Then call, and I will answer, or I will speak, and you respond to me. 13:23 How many are my iniquities and sins? Show me my transgression and my sin. 13:24 Why do you hide your face and regard me as your enemy? 13:25 Do you wish to torment a windblown leaf and chase after dry chaff? 13:26 For you write down bitter things against me and cause me to inherit the sins of my youth. 13:27 And you put my feet in the stocks and you watch all my movements; you put marks on the soles of my feet. 13:28 So I waste away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by moths. 14:1 “Man, born of woman, lives but a few days, and they are full of trouble. 14:2 He grows up like a flower and then withers away; he flees like a shadow, and does not remain. 14:3 Do you fix your eye on such a one? And do you bring me before you for judgment? 14:4 Who can make a clean thing come from an unclean? No one! 14:5 Since man’s days are determined, the number of his months is under your control; you have set his limit and he cannot pass it. 14:6 Look away from him and let him desist, until he fulfills his time like a hired man. 14:7 “But there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. 14:8 Although its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump begins to die in the soil, 14:9 at the scent of water it will flourish and put forth shoots like a new plant. 14:10 But man dies and is powerless; he expires – and where is he? 14:11 As water disappears from the sea, or a river drains away and dries up, 14:12 so man lies down and does not rise; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor arise from their sleep. 14:13 “O that you would hide me in Sheol, and conceal me till your anger has passed! O that you would set me a time and then remember me! 14:14 If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait until my release comes. 14:15 You will call and I – I will answer you; you will long for the creature you have made. 14:16 “Surely now you count my steps; then you would not mark my sin. 14:17 My offenses would be sealed up in a bag; you would cover over my sin. 14:18 But as a mountain falls away and crumbles, and as a rock will be removed from its place, 14:19 as water wears away stones, and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy man’s hope. 14:20 You overpower him once for all, and he departs; you change his appearance and send him away. 14:21 If his sons are honored, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it. 14:22 Only his flesh has pain for himself, and he mourns for himself.” Eliphaz’s Second Speech

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible®, copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

Job rejects his friends’ claim to superior wisdom, exposes their false defense of God, and insists on bringing his case directly before the Almighty. He confesses that God alone has wisdom and power, but says God’s rule is often hidden and that the friends’ retributive explanations do not fit reality. The speech ends with a deep lament over human frailty, the seeming finality of death, and Job’s longing that God would remember and answer him.

Job begins with sharp irony. His friends speak as if wisdom belongs only to them, but Job says he knows the same truths they do. He also says their simple retribution teaching does not fit real life, because the wicked can seem secure while the righteous suffer.

Job then turns to creation. He says the animals, birds, earth, and fish all show that the LORD made and sustains life. He piles up words like wisdom, power, counsel, understanding, strength, and prudence to show that God’s rule is complete. No human rank is safe from God’s control, whether rulers, priests, nobles, or nations.

After that, Job rebukes his friends for speaking falsely on God’s behalf. He says they are like worthless doctors because they have given a bad diagnosis and defended God in a dishonest way. Job refuses to stay silent. He wants to speak directly to the Almighty, bring his case before him, and have his charges heard.

Job is honest about his suffering. He asks God to remove the terror that overwhelms him so he can answer, and he asks what sins are being charged against him. He feels as if God is treating him like an enemy, writing bitter things against him and watching every step.

Job then reflects on how brief human life is. A person is born, grows, flourishes for a little while, and then fades like a flower or a shadow. He says that no person can make the clean come from the unclean, and that human life has a fixed limit under God’s control. A cut tree may sprout again, but a human being dies and does not return in the same way in ordinary earthly experience.

The chapter ends with a sorrowful wish that God would hide him in Sheol until anger passes and then remember him. Job is not giving a full doctrine of resurrection here. He is speaking from lament and longing, hoping that God would somehow answer him after death. The whole passage shows a man who will not give up on God, even while he does not understand why he is suffering.

• God alone has true wisdom, power, counsel, and understanding.
• Human beings can speak wrongly about God, even while claiming to defend him.
• The friends’ simple retribution theory does not explain all suffering.
• God rules over all ranks of human life, from kings to common people.
• Job brings his case directly to God and asks that God’s charges be made clear.
• Human life is short, fragile, and marked by trouble.
• A tree can sprout again after being cut down, but human life appears far more limited in this passage.
• Job longs for God to remember him and answer him, even in the darkness of death.

• Do not speak wickedly for God or defend him with lies.
• Do not assume that suffering always proves hidden sin in the way Job’s friends assumed.
• Bring hard questions to God honestly rather than abandoning faith.
• Remember that human life is brief, and live with humility.
• Do not turn Job 13:15 into a simplistic slogan detached from the lament.
• Do not read Job 14:13-15 as a fully developed statement of resurrection doctrine.
• God’s wisdom and rule are greater than human explanation.

Job belongs to the wisdom stage of Old Testament revelation. He speaks as a righteous sufferer under God the Creator and Judge, before the Bible gives the fuller answer that comes later through clearer hope and final justice. This passage helps prepare readers to see the need for honest lament, true mediation, and God’s final answer to suffering and death.

When suffering does not make sense, do not pretend to have easy answers. Do not defend God with false or cruel words. Like Job, bring your questions to God honestly and keep speaking to him instead of turning away. Remember that life is short, so humility, patience, and reverence are wise.

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