The Meaning of Job 12:13 Explained

Job 12:13

KJV: With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.

YLT: With Him are wisdom and might, To him are counsel and understanding.

Darby: With him is wisdom and might; he hath counsel and understanding.

ASV: With God is wisdom and might; He hath counsel and understanding.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

With him [is] wisdom  and strength,  he hath counsel  and understanding. 

What does Job 12:13 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 12:1-25 - "god's Paths In Deep Waters"
Job sets himself to disprove Zophar's contention that wickedness invariably causes insecurity in men's dwellings; and in doing so he bitterly complains that his friends mocked at him so contemptuously. He says that they remind him of those who are glad enough of a torch when their foot is slipping in the dark, but cast it aside when they reach their quarters, Job 12:5.
Those who rob are often the most prosperous, Job 12:6, and nature teaches that the animals and plants which are most sturdy in their self-assertion are most secure. Is not the vulture more secure than the dove, the lion than the ox, the shark than the dolphin, the rose than the thorn which tears it? In all such cases you cannot explain the mystery except by referring it to the will of God, whose reasons are past finding out. Similar mysteries beset human life.
Job still further illustrates his point from human life, showing that the lives of counselors, judges, kings, priests, princes, and elders are exposed to the same apparent anomalies and inequalities of treatment. We know, however, that suffering is purifying to the soul, and often redemptive, as Christ's was, for others. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 12

1  Job maintains himself against his friends that reprove him
7  He acknowledges the doctrine of God's omnipotence

What do the individual words in Job 12:13 mean?

With Him [are] wisdom and strength He has counsel and understanding
עִ֭מּוֹ חָכְמָ֣ה וּגְבוּרָ֑ה ל֝֗וֹ עֵצָ֥ה וּתְבוּנָֽה

עִ֭מּוֹ  With  Him 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine singular
Root: עִם  
Sense: with.
חָכְמָ֣ה  [are]  wisdom 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: חָכְמָה  
Sense: wisdom.
וּגְבוּרָ֑ה  and  strength 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, feminine singular
Root: גְּבוּרָה  
Sense: strength, might.
עֵצָ֥ה  has  counsel 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: עֵצָה 
Sense: counsel, advice, purpose.
וּתְבוּנָֽה  and  understanding 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, feminine singular
Root: תְּבוּנָה 
Sense: understanding, intelligence.