Tree of Life Version
Job 12:23
23He makes nations great and destroys them. He enlarges the nations and leads them away.
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 pours contempt on nobles and loosens the belts of the mighty. 22He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into light. He makes nations great and destroys them. He enlarges the nations and leads them away. 24He deprives the heads of the people of earth of understanding, and causes them to wander in a pathless wasteland. 25They grope in darkness with no light; He makes them stagger like a drunkard.
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 1:7Yet Bnei-Yisrael were fruitful, increased abundantly, multiplied and grew extremely numerous—so the land was filled with them.
- Psalms 107:38He blesses them, they multiply greatly, and He does not let their herds diminish,
- Isaiah 9:3For You will break the burdensome yoke and the rod on his shoulder— the war-club of his oppressor— as in the day of Midian.
- Isaiah 26:15You have increased the nation, Adonai, You have increased the nation. You are glorified as You have expanded all the borders of the land.
- Isaiah 27:6In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit.
- Isaiah 51:2Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you. For when I called him, he was but one, then I blessed him and multiplied him.”
- Isaiah 60:22The smallest will become a thousand, and the least a mighty nation. I, Adonai, will hasten it in its time.”
- Jeremiah 30:19Out of them will come thanksgiving and the sound of celebration. I will multiply them, so they will not decrease. I will also honor them, so they will not be insignificant.
- Jeremiah 33:22As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David My servant, and the Levites who minister to Me.”
- Zechariah 10:8I will signal for them and gather them. Surely I will redeem them and they will be as numerous as 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
Tree of Life Version — © 2015 The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
Commentaries