EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Job 12:23
23He can make nations become great. He can also destroy them. He can make their land become bigger. He can also send their people away to other places.
Job 12:23 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again.
- New International Version (NIV)He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them.
- English Standard Version (ESV)He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
- New King James Version (NKJV)He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them.
Context of Job 12:23
21He causes rulers to be ashamed. He destroys the power of strong men. 22He shows people things that have been secrets. He shines light into dark places. He can make nations become great. He can also destroy them. He can make their land become bigger. He can also send their people away to other places. 24He stops the world's leaders from understanding things properly. He sends them to travel through empty deserts. 25They try to walk in the dark, without any light. He causes them to walk like drunk men.
Read all of Job 12Job 12:23 word by word
מַשְׂגִּ֣יא לַ֭גּוֹיִם וַֽיְאַבְּדֵ֑ם שֹׁטֵ֥חַ לַ֝גּוֹיִ֗ם וַיַּנְחֵֽם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 12:23
- Exodus 1:7But the Israelites had many children, so they grew into a very large family. They became very powerful. They were everywhere in the whole country.
- Psalms 107:38He blesses them, so that they have many children. Their animals also grow in number.
- Isaiah 9:3You, Lord, will make your nation stronger. You will cause your people to be very happy. They will be happy because you are with them. They will be like people who are happy at the time of harvest. They will be happy like soldiers who have won a battle, and who share their enemy's valuable things among themselves.
- Isaiah 26:15Lord, you have made our nation larger. You have made our nation larger and you have shown how great you are. You have made all the borders of our land grow bigger.
- Isaiah 27:6The time will come when Jacob will grow well, like a strong plant in the ground. Yes, Israel will make flowers and branches. Their fruit will fill all the world.
- Isaiah 51:2You all started from your ancestor Abraham, and his wife Sarah. When I first spoke to Abraham, he had no children. But I blessed him, so that he had many descendants.’
- Isaiah 60:22The least important person among you will become a great family. The smallest person will become a large nation. I am the Lord. When the right time comes, I will cause it to happen quickly!
- Jeremiah 30:19In those places you will hear happy songs, as people thank God. People will laugh aloud because they are so happy. I will make them grow in number. Their descendants will be many. I will cause other nations to give them honour. They will no longer insult my people.
- Jeremiah 33:22I promise that my servant David will always have many descendants. There will also be very many Levites to serve me as priests. You will not be able to count them. They will be more than the stars in the sky and more than the sand on the shore of the sea.” ’
- Zechariah 10:8I will cause my people to come to me and I will bring them all together. I will buy them and I will make them free people. And there will be as many people as there were before.
Commentaries on Job 12:23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23He increaseth the nations - Mr. Good translates, He letteth the nations grow licentious. Pride, fullness of bread, with extensive trade and commerce, produce luxury; and this is ever accompanied with profligacy of manners. When, then, the cup of this iniquity is full, God destroys the nation, by bringing or permitting to come against it a nation less pampered, more necessitous, and inured to toil. He enlargeth the nations - Often permits a nation to…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 23He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them - He has entire control over them. The sources of prosperity are in his hand, and at his pleasure he can visit them with famine, pestilence, or war, and diminish their numbers and arrest their prosperity. Dr. Good renders this very improperly, “He letteth the nations grow licentious;” but the word שׂגא śâgâ' never has this sense. It means, to make great; to multiply; to increase. And straiteneth them again…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-25Verses 12-25 This is a noble discourse of Job concerning the wisdom, power, and sovereignty of God, in ordering all the affairs of the children of men, according to the counsel of His own will, which none can resist. It were well if wise and good men, who differ about lesser things, would see how it is for their honour and comfort, and the good of others, to dwell most upon the great things in which they agree. Here are no complaints, or reflections. He…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23-24Compare Daniel 2:21. He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason: See Job 12:18; compare Daniel 4:23, 32–33. He… makes them wander in a trackless wasteland: This is like the "nobles" in Psalm 107:40 (see Job 12:21).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2323. Is 9:3; Psa 107:38, 39, which Psalm quotes this chapter elsewhere. (See on Job 12:21). straiteneth--literally, "leadeth in," that is, "reduces."Read the comment
Topics related to Job 12:23
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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