Job 40:12
in Job 40Look on every proud man and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; And tread down the wicked where they stand.
KJV
Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.
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This verse in Job 40
Commentary
7 notes on this verseLook on all the proud, and confound them, and tread down the wicked in their place. 11. Thou understandest, As I. For the proud are confounded at the look of the Lord, either here, by His mercy, when acknowledging and condemning their faults, or there, by suffering punishments from His justice. But pride itself is the place of the wicked; for, since it is written, Pride is the beginning of all sin, [Ecclus. 10, 13] it is comprised in that place, whence impiety arises; although impiety hardly differs from pride.
This site's exposition
adorn yourself with majesty and splendor
on Job 40:10-14
God bids Job take His office for a moment. Delitzsch reads the offer as irony, since no creature could survive wielding such power even briefly. God would confess “that your own right hand can save you” only if Job could do what he asks God to answer for.
This site's exposition
trample the wicked where they stand
Barnes takes where they stand as the very spot where the wicked are found, crushed there to the dust. Gregory the Dialogist read their place as pride itself. The proud are humbled, he says, either by mercy now or by justice later.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
The first punishment common to both of these types of proud men is confusion. Since when they could not attain the height to which they pretended, they are apparently confounded by their failure, and so he says, "Consider all the proud and confound them," and …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
. here the cause is put upon this short issue: if Job can humble and abase proud tyrants and oppressors as easily and effectually as God can, it shall be acknowledged that he has some colour to compete with God. The justice Job is here challenged to do, and that is to bring the proud low with a look.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
Look on everyone that is proud, and bring him low,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And tread down the wicked in their place - Even in the very place where they are, crush them to the dust, as God can. It is implied that God was able to do this, and he appeals to it as a proof of his power.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| רְאֵ֣ה | reeh | see | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| כָל־ | khol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| גֵּ֭אֶה | geeh | proud [person] | H1343 → | |
| הַכְנִיעֵ֑הוּ | hakhniehu | humble him | H3665 → | |
| וַהֲדֹ֖ךְ | vahadokh | and tread down | H1915 → | |
| רְשָׁעִ֣ים | reshaim | wicked [people] | H7563 → | 263 times |
| תַּחְתָּֽם׃ | tachtam | in place their | H8478 → | 505 times |
רְאֵ֣הsee
reehH7200 →1300 times
כָל־every
khol-H3605 →5413 times
גֵּ֭אֶהproud [person]
geehH1343 →
הַכְנִיעֵ֑הוּhumble him
hakhniehuH3665 →
וַהֲדֹ֖ךְand tread down
vahadokhH1915 →
רְשָׁעִ֣יםwicked [people]
reshaimH7563 →263 times
תַּחְתָּֽם׃in place their
tachtamH8478 →505 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 63:3“I have trodden the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My fury; their blood spattered My garments, and…
it leads to
- Revelation 19:13–15
He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is The Word of God.
- Revelation 14:19–20
So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.
- Revelation 19:13–15
Through
Psalms 60:12With God we will perform with valor, and He will trample our enemies.
it leads to
- Psalms 44:5
Through You we repel our foes; through Your name we trample our enemies.
- Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
- Isaiah 63:3
“I have trodden the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My fury; their blood spattered My garments, and…
- 1 Chronicles 19:13
Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. May the LORD do what is good in His sight.”
- Psalms 44:5
Through
Malachi 4:3Then you will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the LORD of Hosts.
it leads to
- Micah 7:10
Then my enemy will see and will be covered with shame—she who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled like…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Zechariah 10:5
They will be like mighty men in battle, trampling the enemy in the mire of the streets. They will fight because the LORD is with them, and they will put the horsemen to shame.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Micah 7:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
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 XXXII; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.