Job 12:16
in Job 12True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
With him is strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his.
KJV
With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.
⋯
This verse in Job 12
Commentary
10 notes on this verseWith him is strength and wisdom - עז ותושיה oz vethushiyah, strength and sufficiency. Strength or power, springing from an exhaustless and infinite source of potency. In the thirteenth verse it is said, With him is wisdom and strength; but the expressions are not the same, חכמה וגבורה chochmah ugeburah, intelligence and fortitude, or strength in action, the wisdom ever guiding the exertions of power; but here is strength or power in essence, and an eternal potentiality. With him is every excellence, in potentia and in esse. He borrows nothing, he derives nothing.
This site's exposition
What He tears down cannot be rebuilt
on Job 12:14-16
"What He tears down cannot be rebuilt" opens a survey of providence at work by unmaking what stands. Verse 15 pairs drought and flood as two faces of one governing hand. At verse 16, "The deceived and the deceiver are His" extends God's rule over deception itself.
This site's exposition
The deceived and the deceiver are His
Matthew Henry names two cases: Jacob deceived his father, and Ahab was deceived by false prophets, and in both the counsel of God stood. The deceived and the deceiver are in His hand. Job credits God with true wisdom and power over both.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
With Him is strength and wisdom. A little above it had been said, With Him is wisdom and strength; but now it is said, With Him is strength and wisdom. For because Almighty God, when in the mystery of pitifulness He was made Man, first gave the lesson of mildness, and afterwards at the Judgment He shews what strength He is of; it is rightly done that in the place above Wisdom is mentioned before Strength, when the thing is spoken of the Only Begotten Son of the Father, With Him is Wisdom and Strength.
Thus, as a conclusion from these premises he says, "With him is strength." Then he begins to progress to the second point, saying, "and wisdom," as though proposing what he intends to clarify. For it is a property of wisdom that through it one may …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
He governs the deceiver and sets bounds to his deceits, how far they shall extend; he also over-rules all this to his own glory, and the accomplishment of his righteous designs of trying the good, and punishing wicked men, by giving them up to believe lies. Yet God is not the author of any error or sin, but only the wise and holy governor of it.
When Jacob by a fraud got the blessing the design of God's grace was served; when Ahab was drawn by a false prophecy into an expedition that was his ruin the design of God's justice was served; and in both the deceived and the deceiver were at his disposal.
I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these? 4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn. 5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
With him is strength and wisdom,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The deceived and the deceiver are his - This is designed to teach that all classes of people are under his control. All are dependent on him, and all are subject to him. He has power to keep them, and he can destroy them when he pleases. Dr. Good supposes that Job refers here to himself and his friends who had beguiled him into expressions of impatience and complaint. But it is more probably a general declaration that all classes of people were under the control of God.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עִ֭מּוֹ | imo | [are] with him | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| עֹ֣ז | ʾoz | strength | H5797 → | 92 times |
| וְתֽוּשִׁיָּ֑ה | vetushiyah | and sound wisdom | H8454 → | 12 times |
| ל֝֗וֹ | lo | [belong] to him | ||
| שֹׁגֵ֥ג | shogeg | [one who] goes astray | H7683 → | |
| וּמַשְׁגֶּֽה׃ | umashgeh | and [one who] leads astray | H7686 → | 21 times |
עִ֭מּוֹ[are] with him
imoH5973 →1050 times
עֹ֣זstrength
ʾozH5797 →92 times
וְתֽוּשִׁיָּ֑הand sound wisdom
vetushiyahH8454 →12 times
ל֝֗וֹ[belong] to him
lo
שֹׁגֵ֥ג[one who] goes astray
shogegH7683 →
וּמַשְׁגֶּֽה׃and [one who] leads astray
umashgehH7686 →21 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 6:13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will…
- John 17:15
I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one.
- Matthew 26:41
“Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
- Revelation 7:14–17
“Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the…
- 2 Thessalonians 3:3
But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
- 1 Corinthians 10:13
Through
Job 12:13Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His.
it leads to
- Job 9:4
God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?
- Job 36:5
Indeed, God is mighty, but He despises no one; He is mighty in strength of understanding.
- Proverbs 2:6–7
For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
- Job 9:4
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XI; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.