Job 12:5
in Job 12The one at ease scorns misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
In the thought of him that is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; It is ready for them whose foot slippeth.
KJV
He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.
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This verse in Job 12
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
He that is ready to slip with his feet - The man whose feet waver or totter; that is, the man in adversity; see Pro 25:19. A man in prosperity is represented as standing firm; one in adversity as wavering, or falling; see Psa 73:2. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; My steps had well nigh slipped. There is much difficulty in this passage, and it has by no means been removed by the labor of critics. The reader may consult Rosenmuller, Good, and Schultens, on the verse, for a more full attempt to illustrate its meaning.
This site's exposition
I am a laughingstock to my friends
on Job 12:4-6
Job, a righteous man who "called on God, and He answered", is "a laughingstock to my friends", a fact the friends refuse to reckon with. "The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure" states in brief the problem their theology cannot answer.
This site's exposition
The one at ease scorns misfortune
Job describes how the comfortable look on the fallen. Barnes explains slipping feet picture a man in adversity, as at Psalm 73:2, and Henry notes even the upright man under a cloud is scorned. The friends sit at ease while Job suffers.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Did I lose my common sense, by any chance," Job says, "because I fell into misery?" Here he presents himself as a righteous man, not by testifying to his perfect virtue but to the fact that he did not do anything wrong to anyone and that nobody can blame him. "And that my houses should be spoiled by transgressors," it was necessary that this happened, he says. It had been ordained from above. "However," he says, "do not believe that these misfortunes will stop for me. Indeed, if I, who have committed no act of injustice, suffer so, the wicked will suffer even more so."
The Medieval Church2 voices
Moreover, their simplicity is the cause of their mockery, but simplicity is not mocked as a clear evil but as a hidden good, and so here simplicity is called "a light" because of the clarity of justice. So simplicity is "condemned by the thoughts of …
For the upright man's simplicity is laughed to scorn. A lamp is despised in the thought of the rich; prepared for an appointed time. But because the very scoffers at the simple ones are themselves too enrolled under the name of Christians, being overruled by reverence for religion, they are ashamed to make a display of the sin of open scoffing. Whence it happens that full of pride in themselves, and in silence, they scoff at those whom they take to be utterly mean and abject from their simplicity.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Slip with his feet - And fall into trouble; tho' he had formerly shone as a lamp, he is then looked upon as a lamp going out, as the snuff of a candle, which we throw to the ground and tread upon; and accordingly is despised in the thought of him that is at ease.
He that is ready to slip with his feet,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Even the just upright man, that is in his generation as a burning and shining light, if he enter into temptation ( Ps. lxxiii. 2 ) or come under a cloud, is looked upon with contempt. See here, (1.) What is the common fault of those that live in prosperity.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Rather, "a torch" (lamp) is an object of contempt in the thoughts of him who rests securely (is at ease), though it was prepared for the falterings of the feet [UMBREIT] (Pr 25:19).
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לַפִּ֣יד | lapid | [belongs] to <the> disaster | H6365 → | 4 times |
| בּ֭וּז | buz | contempt | H937 → | 11 times |
| לְעַשְׁתּ֣וּת | leashtut | to [the] thought of | H6248 → | |
| שַׁאֲנָ֑ן | shaanan | [one] at ease | H7600 → | |
| נָ֝כ֗וֹן | nakhon | a push | H3559 → | 217 times |
| לְמ֣וֹעֲדֵי | lemoadei | [belongs] to [those who] are sliding of | H4571 → | |
| רָֽגֶל׃ | ragel | foot | H7272 → | 247 times |
לַפִּ֣יד[belongs] to <the> disaster
lapidH6365 →4 times
בּ֭וּזcontempt
buzH937 →11 times
לְעַשְׁתּ֣וּתto [the] thought of
leashtutH6248 →
שַׁאֲנָ֑ן[one] at ease
shaananH7600 →
נָ֝כ֗וֹןa push
nakhonH3559 →217 times
לְמ֣וֹעֲדֵי[belongs] to [those who] are sliding of
lemoadeiH4571 →
רָֽגֶל׃foot
ragelH7272 →247 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
Psalms 94:18If I say, “My foot is slipping,” Your loving devotion, O LORD, supports me.
it leads to
- Psalms 38:16
For I said, “Let them not gloat over me— those who taunt me when my foot slips.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 121:3
He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.
- Isaiah 41:10
Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand…
- Psalms 119:116–117
Sustain me as You promised, that I may live; let me not be ashamed of my hope.
- Psalms 37:23–24
The steps of a man are ordered by the LORD who takes delight in his journey.
- Psalms 38:16
Through
Psalms 17:5My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped.
it leads to
- Psalms 44:18
Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from Your path.
- Psalms 119:133
Order my steps in Your word; let no sin rule over me.
- Psalms 44:18
Through
Proverbs 13:9The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is extinguished.
it leads to
- Proverbs 24:20
For the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished.
- Proverbs 24:20
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book X; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 12:2-5; 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.