God’s Word Translation
Job 12:15
15When he holds back the waters, there is a drought. When he releases them, they flood the earth.
Job 12:15 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
- New International Version (NIV)If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.
- English Standard Version (ESV)If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
- New King James Version (NKJV)If He withholds the waters, they dry up; If He sends them out, they overwhelm the earth.
Context of Job 12:15
13God has wisdom and strength. Advice and insight are his. 14When he tears ⌞something⌟ down, it cannot be rebuilt. When he puts someone in prison, that person cannot be freed. When he holds back the waters, there is a drought. When he releases them, they flood the earth. 16“God has power and priceless wisdom. He owns ⌞both⌟ the deceiver and the person who is deceived. 17He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools out of judges.
Read all of Job 12Job 12:15 word by word
הֵ֤ן יַעְצֹ֣ר בַּמַּ֣יִם וְיִבָ֑שׁוּ וִֽ֝ישַׁלְּחֵ֗ם וְיַ֖הַפְכוּ אָֽרֶץ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 12:15
- Job 12:10The life of every living creature and the spirit in every human body are in his hands.
- Genesis 8:1God remembered Noah and all the wild and domestic animals with him in the ship. So God made a wind blow over the earth, and the water started to go down.
- 1 Kings 8:35“When the sky is shut and there’s no rain because they are sinning against you, and they pray toward this place, praise your name, and turn away from their sin because you made them suffer,
- 1 Kings 17:1Elijah, who was from Tishbe but had settled in Gilead, said to Ahab, “I solemnly swear, as the Lord God of Israel whom I serve lives, there will be no dew or rain during the next few years unless I say so.”
- Jeremiah 14:22The worthless gods of the nations can’t make it rain. By themselves, the skies can’t give showers. But you can, O Lord our God. We have hope in you because you do all these things.
- Nahum 1:4He yells at the sea and makes it dry. He dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither. The flowers of Lebanon wither.
- Luke 4:25“I can guarantee this truth: There were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time. It had not rained for three-and-a-half years, and the famine was severe everywhere in the country.
- James 5:17Elijah was human like us. Yet, when he prayed that it wouldn’t rain, no rain fell on the ground for three-and-a-half years.
- Revelation 11:6These witnesses have authority to shut the sky in order to keep rain from falling during the time they speak what God has revealed. They have authority to turn water into blood and to strike the earth with any plague as often as they want.
- Genesis 6:13God said to Noah, “I have decided to put an end to all people because the earth is full of their violence. Now I’m going to destroy them along with the earth.
- Genesis 7:11On the seventeenth day of the second month of the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, all the deep springs burst open. The sky opened,
- Psalms 104:7and fled because of your threat. Water ran away at the sound of your thunder.
- Amos 5:8God made the ⌞constellations⌟ Pleiades and Orion. He turns deep darkness into dawn. He turns day into night. He calls for water from the sea to pour it over the face of the earth. His name is the Lord.
Commentaries on Job 12:15
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 15He withholdeth the waters - This is, I think, an allusion to the third day's work of the creation, Genesis 1:9; : And God said, Let the waters be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear. Thus the earth was drained, and the waters collected into seas, and bound to their particular places. Also he sendeth them out - Here is also an allusion to the flood, for when he broke up the fountains of the great deep, then the earth was…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 15He withholdeth the waters - From the clouds and springs. He has control over the rains and the fountains; and when these are withheld, rivers and lakes become dry. The Syriac renders this, - “if he rebuke the waters,” supposing that there might perhaps be an allusion to the drying up of the Red Sea, or the formation of a passage for the Israelites. But it is remarkable that in the argument here there is no allusion to any historical fact, not to the…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. 1515. Probably alluding to the flood.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 12:15
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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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