A small band of wild ibex on a bare ridge at dawn, one with its head turned toward us, under a calm, pale, empty sky.

The Book of

Job 12

Job speaks, and this answer closes round one. Zophar has just told him he deserves worse. Now he bites back: ask the animals, they know as much as you.

25 verses≈ 3 min1 personBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–3The testBlameless, stripped of everything, and his cry
4–14Round oneThe friends speak; Job answersChapter 12
15–21Round twoMy Redeemer lives
22–31Round threeThen wisdom, and Job's last defense
32–37ElihuA younger voice
38–41The LORD speaksOut of the whirlwind
42The endJob prays and is restored

Job Presents His Case

Job

Then Job answered:

“Truly then you are the people

with whom wisdom itself will die!

But I also have a mind;

I am not inferior to you.

Who does not know such things as these?

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Job

Idle men and boys on the stone benches beside a plain town gate lean their heads together, one pointing toward a gray mound far off, where a small dark wrapped figure sits alone; calm empty sky above the flat-topped wall.

I am a laughingstock to my friends,

though I called on God, and He answered.

The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.

The one at ease scorns misfortune

as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

The tents of robbers are safe,

and those who provoke God are secure—

those who carry their god in their hands.

0:20

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Reflect

Whose feet are slipping

“The one at ease scorns misfortune.” Whose trouble have you been tempted to look down on from a place of ease? Write their name. Pray for them, then do one kind thing.

Job