English Standard Version
Job 12:14
14If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open.
Job 12:14 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
- New International Version (NIV)What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; those he imprisons cannot be released.
- New King James Version (NKJV)If He breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt; If He imprisons a man, there can be no release.
- New Living Translation (NLT)What he destroys cannot be rebuilt. When he puts someone in prison, there is no escape.
Context of Job 12:14
12Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days. 13"With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding. If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open. 15If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. 16With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.
Read all of Job 12Job 12:14 word by word
הֵ֣ן יַ֭הֲרוֹס וְלֹ֣א יִבָּנֶ֑ה יִסְגֹּ֥ר עַל־אִ֝֗ישׁ וְלֹ֣א יִפָּתֵֽחַ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 12:14
- Job 9:12Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?'
- Job 11:10If he passes through and imprisons and summons the court, who can turn him back?
- Isaiah 14:23"And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," declares the Lord of hosts.
- Jeremiah 51:58"Thus says the Lord of hosts: The broad wall of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. The peoples labor for nothing, and the nations weary themselves only for fire."
- Malachi 1:4If Edom says, "We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins," the Lord of hosts says, "They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called 'the wicked country,' and 'the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.'"
- Job 16:11God gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
- 1 Samuel 17:46This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,
- 1 Samuel 24:18And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands.
- 1 Samuel 26:8Then Abishai said to David, "God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice."
- Isaiah 22:22And 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.
- Romans 11:32For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
- 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.
Commentaries on Job 12:14
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 14He breaketh down - He alone can create, and he alone can destroy. Nothing can be annihilated but by the same Power that created it. This is a most remarkable fact. No power, skill, or cunning of man can annihilate the smallest particle of matter. Man, by chemical agency, may change its form; but to reduce it to nothing belongs to God alone. In the course of his providence God breaks down, so that it cannot be built up again. See proofs of this in the…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 14Behold, he breaketh down - None can repair what he pulls down. Cities and towns he can devote to ruin by fire, or earthquake, or the pestilence, and so completely destroy them that they can never be rebuilt. We may now refer to such illustrations as Sodom, Babylon, Petra, Tyre, Herculaneum, and Pompeii, as full proof of what is here affirmed. He shutteth up a man - He can shut up a man in such difficulties and straits that he cannot extricate himself; see…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
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1414. shutteth up--(Is 22:22). Job refers to Zophar's "shut up" (Job 11:10).Read the comment
Topics related to Job 12:14
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries