121 Then Job replied: 2 "Doubtless you are the only people who matter, and wisdom will die with you! 3 But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things? 4 "I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God and he answered- a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless! 5 Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
121 And Job answered and said, 2 No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. 3 But I have understanding
121 Then Job answered and said: 2 "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. 3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these? 4 I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called to God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock. 5 In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.
121 Job answered: 2 "I'm sure you speak for all the experts, and when you die there'll be no one left to tell us how to live. 3 But don't forget that I also have a brain - I don't intend to play second fiddle to you. It doesn't take an expert to know these things. 4 "I'm ridiculed by my friends: 'So that's the man who had conversations with God!' Ridiculed without mercy: 'Look at the man who never did wrong!' 5 It's easy for the well-to-do to point their fingers in blame, for the well-fixed to pour scorn on the strugglers.
121 Then Job answered and said: 2 "No doubt you are the people, And wisdom will die with you! 3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these? 4 "I am one mocked by his friends, Who called on God, and He answered him, The just and blameless who is ridiculed. 5 A lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease; It is made ready for those whose feet slip.
121 Then Job spoke again: 2 "You people really know everything, don't you? And when you die, wisdom will die with you! 3 Well, I know a few things myself- and you're no better than I am. Who doesn't know these things you've been saying? 4 Yet my friends laugh at me, for I call on God and expect an answer. I am a just and blameless man, yet they laugh at me. 5 People who are at ease mock those in trouble. They give a push to people who are stumbling.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 12:1-5
Commentary on Job 12:1-5
(Read Job 12:1-5)
Job upbraids his friends with the good opinion they had of their own wisdom compared with his. We are apt to call reproofs reproaches, and to think ourselves mocked when advised and admonished; this is our folly; yet here was colour for this charge. He suspected the true cause of their conduct to be, that they despised him who was fallen into poverty. It is the way of the world. Even the just, upright man, if he comes under a cloud, is looked upon with contempt.