Job 12:6
in Job 12The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure—those who carry their god in their hands.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The tents of robbers prosper, And they that provoke God are secure; Into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
KJV
The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
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This verse in Job 12
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThe tabernacles of robbers have plenty, and they provoke God with boldness; when He hath given all into their hand. It is easy for a man, at the time, to despise riches, when he has them, but it is hard to hold them worthless, when he lacks them. Hence it is clearly shewn, how great a contempt of earthly things was lodged in the breast of blessed Job, who then declares that all is nought which the lost enjoy in plenty, at the time when he had lost every thing.
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 tents of robbers are safe
Zophar had said at Job 11:20 that the eyes of the wicked will fail. Job answers that robbers live safe and those who provoke God live secure, which Barnes calls Job's settled position in the whole debate. Matthew Henry adds that great sinners may live in great ease.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Since the rich who deride the simplicity of the just do not stop at this but go as far as contempt of God, he adds, "the tents of the robbers abound." Because some place their end in riches, it follows they search carefully for all …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Are secure - Job's friends had all supposed, that wicked men cannot prosper long in the world. This Job opposes, and maintains, that God herein acts as sovereign, and reserves that exact distribution of rewards and punishments for the other world.
The tabernacles of robbers prosper,....
Even great sinners may enjoy great prosperity. How he describes the sinners. They are robbers, and such as provoke God, the worst kind of sinners, blasphemers and persecutors.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The tabernacles of robbers prosper - Those who live by the plunder of their neighbors are often found in great secular prosperity; and they that provoke God by impiety and blasphemy live in a state of security and affluence. These are administrations of Providence which cannot be accounted for; yet the Judge of all the earth does right. Therefore prosperity and adversity are no evidences of a man’s spiritual state, nor of the place he holds in the approbation or disapprobation of God.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The tabernacles of robbers prosper - The tents or dwellings of robbers are safe and secure. This is Job’s original proposition, to which he all along adheres. It is, that God does not deal with people in this life according to their character; and in support of this he now appeals to the fact that the tents or dwellings of robbers are safe. Arabia would furnish many illustrations of this, which could not be unknown to the friends of Job. The Arabs dwelt in tents, and they were then, as now, wandering, predatory tribes. They lived, to a great extent, by plunder, and doubtless Job could appeal to the observation of his friends for the proof of this. He affirms that so far from dealing with people according to their character, God often seemed to protect the public robber, and the blasphemer of his name. Prosper - They are secure, tranquil, at rest - for so the Hebrew word means. They are not disturbed and broken in upon. And they that provoke God - Or rather, “the tents are secure to those who provoke God.” Dr. Good renders it, “and are fortresses to those who provoke God;” but the true idea is, that the tents of those who provoke God by their conduct are safe. God does not seem to notice them, or to come out in judgment against them. Into whose hand God bringeth abundantly - Dr. Noyes renders this, “who carry their God in their hand;” but with much less accuracy, as it seems to me, than commonly characterizes his version. Eichhorn renders it in a sense somewhat similar: Die ihre Faust fur ihre Gottheit achten - “Who regard their fist as their God.” And so Stuhlman renders it: Und wem die Faust fur Gottheit gilt - “And to whom the fist avails for their God;” That is, says he, Job means that this is the course of the world. Dr. Good renders it, “of him who hath created all these things with his hand” - still less accurately. […]
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יִשְׁלָ֤יוּ | yishlayu | they are at peace | H7951 → | |
| אֹֽהָלִ֨ים׀ | ʾohalim | [the] tents | H168 → | 345 times |
| לְשֹׁ֥דְדִ֗ים | leshodedim | of destroyers | H7703 → | |
| וּֽ֭בַטֻּחוֹת | uvatuchot | and securiti<es> | H987 → | |
| לְמַרְגִּ֣יזֵי | lemargizei | [belong] to provokers of | H7264 → | |
| אֵ֑ל | ʾel | God | H410 → | 241 times |
| לַאֲשֶׁ֤ר | laasher | to [those] whom | H834 → | 5497 times |
| הֵבִ֖יא | hevi' | he has brought | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֱל֣וֹהַּ | ʾeloah | God | H433 → | 57 times |
| בְּיָדֽוֹ׃ | beyado | in hand his | H3027 → | 1618 times |
יִשְׁלָ֤יוּthey are at peace
yishlayuH7951 →
אֹֽהָלִ֨ים׀[the] tents
ʾohalimH168 →345 times
לְשֹׁ֥דְדִ֗יםof destroyers
leshodedimH7703 →
וּֽ֭בַטֻּחוֹתand securiti<es>
uvatuchotH987 →
לְמַרְגִּ֣יזֵי[belong] to provokers of
lemargizeiH7264 →
אֵ֑לGod
ʾelH410 →241 times
לַאֲשֶׁ֤רto [those] whom
laasherH834 →5497 times
הֵבִ֖יאhe has brought
hevi'H935 →2568 times
אֱל֣וֹהַּGod
ʾeloahH433 →57 times
בְּיָדֽוֹ׃in hand his
beyadoH3027 →1618 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 37:1Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:7
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men prosper in their ways, when they carry out wicked schemes.
- Proverbs 23:17
Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD.
- Proverbs 24:19
Do not fret over evildoers, and do not be envious of the wicked.
- Proverbs 3:31
Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways;
- Proverbs 24:1
Do not envy wicked men or desire their company;
- Psalms 37:7
Through
Psalms 37:35I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,
it leads to
- Job 5:3
I have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed.
- Job 5:3
Through
Psalms 17:14from such men, O LORD, by Your hand— from men of the world whose portion is in this life. May You fill the bellies of Your treasured ones and satisfy their sons, so they…
it leads to
- Job 22:18
But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
- Job 22:18
Through
Job 9:24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?
it leads to
- Job 10:3
Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?
- Job 10:3
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.