Job 12 · Verse 15

Job 12:15

Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
Job 12:15, King James Version

Job 12:15 in other translations

BSBIf He holds back the waters, they dry up, and if He releases them, they overwhelm the land.
WEBBehold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
ASVBehold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
YLTLo, He keepeth in the waters, and they are dried up, And he sendeth them forth, And they overturn the land.
DARBYBehold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; and he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
BBETruly, he keeps back the waters and they are dry; he sends them out and the earth is overturned.
WebsterBehold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.

What does Job 12:15 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
15. Probably alluding to the flood.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 15 He withholdeth the waters - This is, I think, an allusion to the third day's work of the creation, Gen 1:9 : And God said, Let the waters be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear. Thus the earth was drained, and the waters collected into seas, and bound to their particular places. Also he sendeth them out - Here is also an allusion to the flood, for when he broke up the fountains of the great deep, then the earth was overturned.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 12:12-25

This is a noble discourse of Job concerning the wisdom, power, and sovereignty of God, in ordering all the affairs of the children of men, according to the counsel of His own will, which none can resist. It were well if wise and good men, who differ about lesser things, would see how it is for their honour and comfort, and the good of others, to dwell most upon the great things in which they agree. Here are no…

Read the full comment on Job 12:12-25 →

Job 12:15 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הֵ֤ןhenthere!H2005
יַעְצֹ֣רya'.Tzorhe holds backH6113
בַּמַּ֣יִםba.Ma.yim<in> the watersH4325
וְיִבָ֑שׁוּve.yi.Va.shuso they may be dryH3001
וִֽ֝ישַׁלְּחֵ֗םvi.sha.le.Chemand he lets loose themH7971
וְיַ֖הַפְכוּve.Ya.haf.khuand they may devastateH2015
אָֽרֶץ\׃'A.retz[the] earthH776

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 12:15

  • 1 Kings 17:1

    And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

  • Amos 5:8

    Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name:

  • Genesis 6:17

    And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

  • James 5:17-18

    Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

  • Genesis 6:13

    And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

  • Luke 4:25

    But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;

  • Nahum 1:4

    He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.

  • Revelation 11:6

    These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

  • Jeremiah 14:22

    Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.

  • Psalms 104:7-9

    At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.

  • Job 12:10

    In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

  • Genesis 7:11-8:2

    In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. …

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Behold.
10; Ge 8:1,2; 1Ki 8:35,36; 17:1; Jer 14:22; Na 1:4; Lu 4:25
Jas 5:17,18; Re 11:6
he sendeth.
Ge 6:13,17; 7:11,23; Ps 104:7-9; Am 5:8

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 12:14

    Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.

  • Job 12:15

    Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.

  • Job 12:16

    With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.

Read all of Job 12

Job 12:15 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
He aquí, él detendrá las aguas, y se secarán; él las enviará, y destruirán la tierra.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Voici, il retient les eaux, et elles tarissent; puis il les envoie, et elles bouleversent la terre.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Siehe, er hemmt die Wasser, und sie vertrocknen; und er läßt sie los, und sie kehren das Land um.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Si continuerit aquas, omnia siccabuntur; et si emiserit eas, subvertent terram.