Job 12:6

12:6 But ¹  the tents of robbers are peaceful,

and those who provoke God are confident ²  –

who carry their god in their hands. ³ 

Job 12:9

12:9 Which of all these ⁴  does not know

that the hand of the Lord ⁵  has done ⁶  this,

[12:6]  ¹ tn The verse gives the other side of the coin now, the fact that the wicked prosper.

[12:6]  ² tn The plural is used to suggest the supreme degree of arrogant confidence (E. Dhorme, Job, 171).

[12:6]  ³ sn The line is perhaps best understood as describing one who thinks he is invested with the power of God.

[12:9]  ⁴ tn This line could also be translated “by all these,” meaning “who is not instructed by nature?” (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 93). But D. J. A. Clines points out that the verses have presented the animals as having knowledge and communicating it, so the former reading would be best (Job [WBC], 279).

[12:9]  ⁵ tc Some commentators have trouble with the name “Yahweh” in this verse, which is not the pattern in the poetic section of Job. Three mss of Kennicott and two of de Rossi have “God.” If this is so the reminiscence of Isaiah 41:20 led the copyist to introduce the tetragrammaton. But one could argue equally that the few mss with “God” were the copyists’ attempt to correct the text in accord with usage elsewhere.

[12:9]  ⁶ sn The expression “has done this” probably refers to everything that has been discussed, namely, the way that God in his wisdom rules over the world, but specifically it refers to the infliction of suffering in the world.