The Meaning of Job 12:20 Explained

Job 12:20

KJV: He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged.

YLT: Turning aside the lip of the stedfast, And the reason of the aged He taketh away.

Darby: He depriveth of speech the trusty, and taketh away the judgment of the elders;

ASV: He removeth the speech of the trusty, And taketh away the understanding of the elders.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

He removeth away  the speech  of the trusty,  and taketh away  the understanding  of the aged. 

What does Job 12:20 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 12:20 mean?

He deprives of speech the trusted ones and the discernment of the elders takes away
מֵסִ֣יר שָׂ֭פָה לְנֶאֱמָנִ֑ים וְטַ֖עַם זְקֵנִ֣ים יִקָּֽח

מֵסִ֣יר  He  deprives 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Participle, masculine singular
Root: סוּר 
Sense: to turn aside, depart.
שָׂ֭פָה  of  speech 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: שָׂפָה  
Sense: lip, language, speech, shore, bank, brink, brim, side, edge, border, binding.
לְנֶאֱמָנִ֑ים  the  trusted  ones 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Nifal, Participle, masculine plural
Root: אָמַן 
Sense: to support, confirm, be faithful.
וְטַ֖עַם  and  the  discernment 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: טַעַם  
Sense: taste, judgment.
זְקֵנִ֣ים  of  the  elders 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural
Root: זָקֵן  
Sense: old.
יִקָּֽח  takes  away 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: יָקַח 
Sense: to take, get, fetch, lay hold of, seize, receive, acquire, buy, bring, marry, take a wife, snatch, take away.