Job 12:23
in Job 12He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, then disperses them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He increaseth the nations, and he destroyeth them: He enlargeth the nations, and he leadeth them captive.
KJV
He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again.
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This verse in Job 12
Commentary
8 notes on this verseHe increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them,.... As he did before the flood, when the earth was tilled, and all over peopled with them, but at the flood he destroyed them at once.
This site's exposition
He makes nations great and destroys them
on Job 12:23-25
"He makes nations great and destroys them" closes the survey at its largest scale, whole peoples rising and falling by the hand that unseated kings. "He makes them stagger like drunkards" answers the friends' confident order with a providence that unsettles the very men who claim to understand it.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Who multiplieth the nations and destroyeth them, and them that are overturned He restoreth entire. We may understand it, viz. that 'the Lord multiplieth the nations and destroyeth them,' in this way, that day by day men are born destined to die, and that 'them, that be overturned, He restoreth entire,' in that they, who were dead, shall rise again; which however we shall interpret in a better sense, if we think how it is that this is done in their souls.
As he had said that such alternation of sublimity and dejection happens among particular persons from God, he shows this same thing among all men saying of them, "who brings growth to the races," so that they increase in the great number of men, "and …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): He sometimes increases their numbers, and enlarges their bounds, so that they make a figure among the nations and become formidable; but after a while, by some undiscerned cause perhaps, they are destroyed and straitened, made few and poor, cut short and many of them cut off, and so they are rendered despicable among their neighbours, and those that were the head become the tail of the nations.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
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
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
He 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 - Margin, “leadeth in.” So the word נחה nâchâh means.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
He 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 acquire an accession of territory, and afterwards shuts them up within their ancient boundaries, and often contracts even those. All these things seem to occur as natural events, and the consequences of state intrigues, and such like causes; but when Divine inspiration comes to pronounce upon them, they are shown to be the consequence of God’s acting in his judgment and mercy; for it is by him that kings reign; it is he who putteth down one and raiseth up another.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַשְׂגִּ֣יא | masgi' | [he is] making great | H7679 → | |
| לַ֭גּוֹיִם | lagoyim | <to> the nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
| וַֽיְאַבְּדֵ֑ם | vayabedem | and he destroyed them | H6 → | 184 times |
| שֹׁטֵ֥חַ | shoteach | [he is] spreading out | H7849 → | |
| לַ֝גּוֹיִ֗ם | lagoyim | <to> the nations | H1471 → | 561 times |
| וַיַּנְחֵֽם׃ | vaiyanchem | and he led them | H5148 → | 39 times |
מַשְׂגִּ֣יא[he is] making great
masgi'H7679 →
לַ֭גּוֹיִם<to> the nations
lagoyimH1471 →561 times
וַֽיְאַבְּדֵ֑םand he destroyed them
vayabedemH6 →184 times
שֹׁטֵ֥חַ[he is] spreading out
shoteachH7849 →
לַ֝גּוֹיִ֗ם<to> the nations
lagoyimH1471 →561 times
וַיַּנְחֵֽם׃and he led them
vaiyanchemH5148 →39 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
Isaiah 60:22The least of you will become a thousand, and the smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will accomplish it quickly.
it leads to
- Habakkuk 2:3
For the vision awaits an appointed time; it testifies of the end and does not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and will not delay.
- Hebrews 10:36
You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.
- Luke 18:7
Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help?
- Matthew 13:31–32
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man planted in his field.
- 2 Peter 3:8
Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
- Habakkuk 2:3
Through
Jeremiah 30:19Thanksgiving will proceed from them, a sound of celebration. I will multiply them, and they will not be decreased; I will honor them, and they will not be belittled.
it leads to
- Isaiah 35:10
So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 33:22
As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister…
- Isaiah 35:10
Through
Psalms 107:38He blesses them, and they multiply greatly; He does not let their herds diminish.
it leads to
- Exodus 1:7
but the Israelites were fruitful and increased rapidly; they multiplied and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.
- Exodus 1:7
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XI; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.