Job 12:13-15 New English Translation
13 “With God[a] are wisdom and power;
counsel and understanding are his.[b]
14 If[c] he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt;
if he imprisons a person, there is no escape.[d]
15 If he holds back the waters, then they dry up;[e]
if he releases them,[f] they destroy[g] the land.
Footnotes
- Job 12:13 tn Heb “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Job 12:13 sn A. B. Davidson (Job, 91) says, “These attributes of God’s [sic] confound and bring to nought everything bearing the same name among men.”
- Job 12:14 tn The use of הֵן (hen, equivalent to הִנֵּה, hinneh, “behold”) introduces a hypothetical condition.
- Job 12:14 tn The verse employs antithetical ideas: “tear down” and “build up,” “imprison” and “escape.” The Niphal verbs in the sentences are potential imperfects. All of this is to say that humans cannot reverse the will of God.
- Job 12:15 tc The LXX has a clarification: “he will dry the earth.”
- Job 12:15 sn The verse is focusing on the two extremes of drought and flood. Both are described as being under the power of God.
- Job 12:15 tn The verb הָפַךְ (hafakh) means “to overthrow; to destroy; to overwhelm.” It was used in Job 9:5 for “overturning” mountains. The word is used in Genesis for the destruction of Sodom.
New English Translation (NET)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.