The Meaning of Job 12:15 Explained

Job 12:15

KJV: Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.

YLT: Lo, He keepeth in the waters, and they are dried up, And he sendeth them forth, And they overturn the land.

Darby: Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; and he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.

ASV: Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Behold, he withholdeth  the waters,  and they dry up:  also he sendeth them out,  and they overturn  the earth. 

What does Job 12:15 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 12:15 mean?

If He withholds the waters and they dry up [If] He sends them out and they overwhelm the earth
הֵ֤ן יַעְצֹ֣ר בַּמַּ֣יִם וְיִבָ֑שׁוּ וִֽ֝ישַׁלְּחֵ֗ם וְיַ֖הַפְכוּ אָֽרֶץ

יַעְצֹ֣ר  He  withholds 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: עָצַר  
Sense: to restrain, retain, close up, shut, withhold, refrain, stay, detain.
בַּמַּ֣יִם  the  waters 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine plural
Root: מַיִם  
Sense: water, waters.
וְיִבָ֑שׁוּ  and  they  dry  up 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: יָבֵשׁ  
Sense: to make dry, wither, be dry, become dry, be dried up, be withered.
וִֽ֝ישַׁלְּחֵ֗ם  [If]  He  sends  them  out 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Piel, Conjunctive imperfect, third person masculine singular, third person masculine plural
Root: שָׁלַח  
Sense: to send, send away, let go, stretch out.
וְיַ֖הַפְכוּ  and  they  overwhelm 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: הָפַךְ  
Sense: to turn, overthrow, overturn.
אָֽרֶץ  the  earth 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: אֶרֶץ  
Sense: land, earth.