Job 12:8
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you: and the fishes of the sea shall declare to you.
American King James Version (AKJV)
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you: and the fishes of the sea shall declare to you.
American Standard Version (ASV)
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
Or to the things which go flat on the earth, and they will give you wisdom; and the fishes of the sea will give you news of it.
Webster's Revision
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare to thee.
World English Bible
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you. The fish of the sea shall declare to you.
English Revised Version (ERV)
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
Definitions for Job 12:8
Barnes's Job 12:8 Bible Commentary
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee - Perhaps this appeal to the earth may mean, as Stuhlman supposes, that the same thing is shown in the productions of the earth, as in the case of fierce animals. Noxious weeds and useless plants are more thrifty than the plants which are useful and the growth of poisonous or annoying things on the earth illustrates the same thing as the dealings of God with people - that his dealings are not in accordance with the real nature of objects.
And the fishes of the sea - The same thing is manifested in the sea, where the mighty prey upon the feeble, and the fierce and the ferocious overcome the defenseless. The sentiment is that it is a great principle which pervades all things that the ferocious the strong, the wicked, are often prospered, while the weak, the defenseless, the innocent, the pious, are subject to calamities, and that God does not apportion his dealings to the exact character of his creatures. Undoubtedly Job was right in this. and this general principle might be seen then as now, to pervade the world.