Job 12:25
in Job 12They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They grope in the dark without light; And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.
KJV
They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.
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This verse in Job 12
Commentary
9 notes on this verseWho changeth the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and deceiveth them, that they wander in vain where there is no way, they shall grope in the dark without any light, and He shall make them to stagger like a drunken man. For 'the heart of the chief of the earth was changed,' when the chief priests and elders of the people in Judaea set themselves to withstand Him by their counsels, Whom they beforehand proclaimed, that He was to come.
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.
This site's exposition
He makes them stagger like drunkards
Clarke hears in this line the curse of Deuteronomy 28:28-29, where the disobedient grope at noon like the blind. Barnes compares the reeling counsels of leaders to the steps of a drunken man, as at Isaiah 19:14. God brings the cleverest minds to their wits' end.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
After he has shown there is strength, wisdom, and counsel in God, he finally shows that God is intelligent, understanding by this the knowledge which He has of hidden things, which seem above all to designate what is hidden in the heart. He shows that …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Note, God can soon nonplus the deepest politicians and bring the greatest wits to their wits' end, to show that wherein they deal proudly he is above them. Thus are the revolutions of kingdoms wonderfully brought about by an overruling Providence. Heaven and earth are shaken, but the Lord sits King for ever, and with him we look for a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
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
They grope in the dark without light,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
They grope in the dark - They are like persons who attempt to feel their way along in the dark; compare the notes at Isa 59:10. And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man - Margin, “wander.” Their unstable and perplexed counsels are like the reelings of a drunken man; see Isa 19:14, note; Isa 24:20, note. This closes the chapter, and with it the controversy in regard to the ability to adduce pertinent and striking proverbial expressions; see the notes at Job 12:
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
They grope in the dark - The writer seems to have had his eye on those words of Moses, Deu 28:28, Deu 28:29: The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt Grope At Noonday, as the Blind Gropeth In Darkness. And this also may refer to the unaccountable errors, transgressions, and judicial blindness of the Israelites in their journeying to the promised land: but it will apply also to the state of wicked nations under judicial blindness. The writer is principally indebted for his imagery, and indeed for the chief expressions used here, to Psa 107:27: They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man. Psa 107:39, Psa 107:40: Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. He Poureth Contempt Upon Princes, and Causeth Them To Wonder In The Wilderness, where there is No Way. Mr. Good has some judicious reflections on this chapter, particularly on Job 12:13-22: “It should be observed,” says he, “that the entire passage has a reference to the machinery of a regular and political government; and that its general drift is to imprint on the mind of the hearer the important doctrine that the whole of the constituent principles of such a government, its officers and institutions; its monarchs and princes; its privy-counselors, judges, and ministers of state; its chieftains, public orators, and assembly of elders; its nobles, or men of hereditary rank; and its stout robust peasantry, as we should express it in the present day; nay, the deep designing villains that plot in secret its destruction; - that the nations themselves, and the heads or sovereigns of the nations, are all and equally in the hands of the Almighty: that with him human pomp is poverty; human excellence, turpitude; human judgment, error; human wisdom, folly; human dignity, contempt; human strength, weakness.”
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יְמַֽשְׁשׁוּ־ | yemashu- | they grope | H4959 → | |
| חֹ֥שֶׁךְ | choshekh | darkness | H2822 → | 80 times |
| וְלֹא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| א֑וֹר | ʾor | light | H216 → | 121 times |
| וַ֝יַּתְעֵ֗ם | vaiyatem | and he made wander them | H8582 → | 50 times |
| כַּשִּׁכּֽוֹר׃ | kashikor | like <the> drunkard | H7910 → |
יְמַֽשְׁשׁוּ־they grope
yemashu-H4959 →
חֹ֥שֶׁךְdarkness
choshekhH2822 →80 times
וְלֹא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
א֑וֹרlight
ʾorH216 →121 times
וַ֝יַּתְעֵ֗םand he made wander them
vaiyatemH8582 →50 times
כַּשִּׁכּֽוֹר׃like <the> drunkard
kashikorH7910 →
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 24:20The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a shack. Earth’s rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again.
it leads to
- Isaiah 19:14
The LORD has poured into her a spirit of confusion. Egypt has been led astray in all she does, as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 29:9
Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not from strong drink.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Daniel 11:19
After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be no more.
- Isaiah 19:14
Through
Genesis 19:11And they struck the men at the entrance, young and old, with blindness, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 6:18
As the Arameans came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Please strike these people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.
- Acts 13:11
Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and for a time you will be blind and unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him,…
- Deuteronomy 28:28–29
The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind,
- 2 Kings 6:18
Through
Job 5:14They encounter darkness by day and grope at noon as in the night.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:29
and at noon you will grope about like a blind man in the darkness. You will not prosper in your ways. Day after day you will be oppressed and plundered, with no one to…
- Isaiah 59:10
Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall, groping like those without eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; among the vigorous we are like the dead.
- Deuteronomy 28:29
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; 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.