1And Job made answer and said, 2No doubt you have knowledge, and wisdom will come to an end with you. 3But I have a mind as well as you; I am equal to you: yes, who has not knowledge of such things as these? 4It seems that I am to be as one who is a cause of laughing to his neighbour, one who makes his prayer to God and is answered! the upright man who has done no wrong is to be made sport of! 5In the thought of him who is in comfort there is no respect for one who is in trouble; such is the fate of those whose feet are slipping. 6There is wealth in the tents of those who make destruction, and those by whom God is moved to wrath are safe; even those whose god is their strength. 7But put now a question to the beasts, and get teaching from them; or to the birds of the heaven, and they will make it clear to you; 8Or to the things which go flat on the earth, and they will give you wisdom; and the fishes of the sea will give you news of it. 9Who does not see by all these that the hand of the Lord has done this? 10In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all flesh of man. 11Are not words tested by the ear, even as food is tasted by the mouth? 12Old men have wisdom, and a long life gives knowledge. 13With him there is wisdom and strength; power and knowledge are his. 14Truly, there is no building up of what is pulled down by him; when a man is shut up by him, no one may let him loose. 15Truly, he keeps back the waters and they are dry; he sends them out and the earth is overturned. 16With him are strength and wise designs; he who is guided into error, together with his guide, are in his hands; 17He takes away the wisdom of the wise guides, and makes judges foolish; 18He undoes the chains of kings, and puts his band on them; 19He makes priests prisoners, overturning those in safe positions; 20He makes the words of responsible persons without effect, and takes away the good sense of the old; 21He puts shame on chiefs, and takes away the power of the strong; 22Uncovering deep things out of the dark, and making the deep shade bright; 23Increasing nations, and sending destruction on them; making wide the lands of peoples, and then giving them up. 24He takes away the wisdom of the rulers of the earth, and sends them wandering in a waste where there is no way. 25They go feeling about in the dark without light, wandering without help like those overcome with wine.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
Job reproves his friends. (1-5) The wicked often prosper.(6-11) Job speaks of the wisdom and power of God. (12-25) 1-5 Job upbraids his friends with the good opinion they had of their own wisdom compared with his. We are apt to call reproofs reproaches, and to think ourselves mocked when advised and admonished; this is our folly; yet here was colour for this charge. He suspected the true cause of their conduct to be, that they despised him who was fallen into poverty. It is the way of the world. Even the just, upright man, if he comes under a cloud, is looked upon with contempt. 6-11 Job appeals to facts. The most audacious robbers, oppressors, and impious wretches, often prosper. Yet this is not by fortune or chance; the Lord orders these things. Worldly prosperity is of small value in his sight: he has better things for his children. Job resolves all into the absolute proprietorship which God has in all the creatures. He demands from his friends liberty to judge of what they had said; he appeals to any fair judgment. 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 gives many instances of God's powerful management of the children of men, overruling all their counsels, and overcoming all their oppositions. Having all strength and wisdom, God knows how to make use, even of those who are foolish and bad; otherwise there is so little wisdom and so little honesty in the world, that all had been in confusion and ruin long ago. These important truths were suited to convince the disputants that they were out of their depth in attempting to assign the Lord's reasons for afflicting Job; his ways are unsearchable, and his judgments past finding out. Let us remark what beautiful illustrations there are in the word of God, confirming his sovereignty, and wisdom in that sovereignty: but the highest and infinitely the most important is, that the Lord Jesus was crucified by the malice of the Jews; and who but the Lord could have known that this one event was the salvation of the world?