Job 12:1-12

12:4 I am a joke to my friends- The LXX omits lines a and b of verse 4. His friends should have provided support, but he is a laughingstock to them. This same word sechoq can mean laughter (8:21) or laughingstock in Jer. 20:7; Lam. 1:7; 3:14; Ps. 31:11-12; 35:15; 41:9; 69:10-12. While generally it is the wicked who mock the righteous, Ps. 52:5-7 is an occasion for the righteous mocking the wicked. 

The word friends had been used in the book in the description of these three men coming to Job in 2:11 and in a description of how they disappointed Job (6:14 27). Usually, in the Psalms the mistreatment comes at the hands of enemies. It particularly hurts to be mistreated by friends as Job 16:20; Ps 38:11; 88:18 show. 

The one who called on God and He answered him- Ps. 99:6 mentions Moses, Aaron, and Samuel among those who called upon the LORD and He answered. Job had often called on God and God had answered though that is not the case in the present (9:16; 27:9; 30:20-21).

The just and blameless man who is a joke- The just or righteous (9:14-15, 20; 10:15) and the blameless (1:1, 8; 2:3; 8:20; 9:20, 21,22) are important words throughout the book. Now Job, though innocent has become the subject of their ridicule (Ps.69:10-12). The contrast between who Job really is and how he is viewed by his friends and society is stark.

 12:5 He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt, The NKJV differs strongly several other versions here.[1] Those at ease are referred to in Ps. 123:4; Isa. 32:9, 11; Jer. 3:26; Lam. 1:15; Amos 6:1; and Zeph. 3:13. These passages seem to refer to those who are blessed presently but who look down upon or are indifferent to the suffering of those who are beneath them. 

As prepared for those whose feet slip- The idea of unsteady or faltering feet or steps is found in Job 4:4; Ps. 18:36; 37:31; 73:2; Prov. 25:19. The innocent are sometimes pictured with firm footing (Ps. 26:1; 37:31) and the feet of the wicked are on shaky ground (Prov. 25:19). The step that slips may be a deliberate rejection of God’s path in Prov. 4:10-12, 26-27. 

 12:6 The tents of the destroyers prosper,- Job talked about God ignoring or even promoting the wickedness of the foolish in 9:23-24 and looking favorably on the schemes of the wicked in 10:3.

And those who provoke God are secure- This same root word translated secure was used by Zophar. Zophar said that if Job turned to God, he would be secure (11:18). While Eliphaz (5:24); Bildad (8:6), and Zophar (11:15-19) have promised peace and safety to those who follow God, Job knows plenty who live in defiance of God and are secure. 

Whom God brings into their power- Is God the subject (as in the KJV, NASB, NKJV, CSB) or the object (NET, ESV, NIV) here? The ESV has “he carries his god in his hand.” On the other hand, the CSB has “God holds them in His hands.” Is this a picture of how the wicked provoke God or is it a picture or how the wicked are in God’s hand and yet He still blesses them? We can compare Gen. 31:29; Micah 2:1; Neh. 5:5; Hab. 1:11 and suggest the overall meaning is that their power is their god. 

In Job 21:7-16 Job will expand on the theme of the prosperity of the wicked that he hits upon here in 12:4-6.

[1] The NET Bible argues the first word could be translated lamp or torch that yields no satisfactory meaning and argue for the word misfortune or calamity.