Bible Strands
Job 12:21
He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job addresses his friends during his discourse on divine sovereignty, immediately after describing how God strips leaders of speech and discernment. He speaks at the midpoint of his argument that God alone controls the rise and fall of human authority.
The words — שׁוֹפֵךְ (sho.Fekh) translates literally as [he is] pouring, and בּוּז (buz) means contempt. Together they form the opening action of the verse.
The thread — The exact phrase appears in Psalm 107:40, where it describes God stripping rulers of honor and casting them into desolation. The lexical root for contempt also appears in contexts of divine judgment across the Psalms and prophetic literature.
Why it lands — It demands recognition that human power and status are subject to divine reversal. It requires readers to ground their security in God's authority rather than in earthly position or strength.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.
Cross-references
- Psalms 107:40 He pours out contempt on the nobles and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.
- Exodus 8:2 But if you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs.
- Exodus 16:24 So they set it aside until morning as Moses had commanded, and it did not smell or contain any maggots.
- 1 Kings 21:23 And the LORD also speaks concerning Jezebel: ‘The dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’
- 2 Kings 9:26 ‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares the LORD, so will I repay you on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.’ Now then, according to the word of the LORD, pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground.”
- 2 Kings 9:34 Then Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of this cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was the daughter of a king.”
- Isaiah 5:27 None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken.
- Isaiah 11:5 Righteousness will be the belt around His hips, and faithfulness the sash around His waist.
- Isaiah 22:21 I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
- Isaiah 23:9 The LORD of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.