6 The tents of robbers prosper.
Those who provoke God are secure,
who carry their God in their hands. 7 “But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you;
the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you. 8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you.
The fish of the sea shall declare to you. 9 Who doesn’t know that in all these,
the hand of Yahweh has done this, 10 in whose hand is the life of every living thing,
and the breath of all mankind? 11 Doesn’t the ear try words,
even as the palate tastes its food?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 12:6-11
Commentary on Job 12:6-11
(Read Job 12:6-11)
Job appeals to facts. The most audacious robbers, oppressors, and impious wretches, often prosper. Yet this is not by fortune or chance; the Lord orders these things. Worldly prosperity is of small value in his sight: he has better things for his children. Job resolves all into the absolute proprietorship which God has in all the creatures. He demands from his friends liberty to judge of what they had said; he appeals to any fair judgment.