The Meaning of Job 12:6 Explained

Job 12:6

KJV: The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.

YLT: At peace are the tents of spoilers, And those provoking God have confidence, He into whose hand God hath brought.

Darby: The tents of desolators are in peace, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand +God bringeth.

ASV: The tents of robbers prosper, And they that provoke God are secure; Into whose hand God bringeth abundantly .

KJV Reverse Interlinear

The tabernacles  of robbers  prosper,  and they that provoke  God  are secure;  into whose hand  God  bringeth  [abundantly]. 

What does Job 12:6 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 12:6 mean?

Prosper the tents of robbers and are secure those who provoke God in what provides God by His hand
יִשְׁלָ֤יוּ אֹֽהָלִ֨ים ׀ לְשֹׁ֥דְדִ֗ים וּֽ֭בַטֻּחוֹת לְמַרְגִּ֣יזֵי אֵ֑ל לַאֲשֶׁ֤ר הֵבִ֖יא אֱל֣וֹהַּ בְּיָדֽוֹ

יִשְׁלָ֤יוּ  Prosper 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: שָׁלָה  
Sense: to be at rest, prosper, be quiet, be at ease.
אֹֽהָלִ֨ים ׀  the  tents 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: אֹהֶל  
Sense: tent.
לְשֹׁ֥דְדִ֗ים  of  robbers 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine plural
Root: שָׁדַד  
Sense: to deal violently with, despoil, devastate, ruin, destroy, spoil.
וּֽ֭בַטֻּחוֹת  and  are  secure 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, feminine plural
Root: בַּטֻּחָה  
Sense: security, safety.
לְמַרְגִּ֣יזֵי  those  who  provoke 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Hifil, Participle, masculine plural construct
Root: רָגַז  
Sense: tremble, quake, rage, quiver, be agitated, be excited, be perturbed.
אֵ֑ל  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֵל 
Sense: god, god-like one, mighty one.
לַאֲשֶׁ֤ר  in  what 
Parse: Preposition-l, Pronoun, relative
Root: אֲשֶׁר 
Sense: (relative part.).
הֵבִ֖יא  provides 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: בֹּוא 
Sense: to go in, enter, come, go, come in.
אֱל֣וֹהַּ  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֱלֹוהַּ  
Sense: God.
בְּיָדֽוֹ  by  His  hand 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: יָד  
Sense: hand.