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Wednesday, July 16th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

Green's Literal Translation

Job 12:15

Behold, He holds back the waters, and they dry up; and He sends them out, and they overflow the earth.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Atheism;   God;   Philosophy;   Religion;   The Topic Concordance - God;   Government;   Nations;   Strength;   Wisdom;  

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Hypocrisy;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
When he withholds water, everything dries up,and when he releases it, it destroys the land.
Hebrew Names Version
Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the eretz.
King James Version
Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
English Standard Version
If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
New Century Version
If God holds back the waters, there is no rain; if he lets the waters go, they flood the land.
New English Translation
If he holds back the waters, then they dry up; if he releases them, they destroy the land.
Amplified Bible
"Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; Again, He sends the waters out, and they overwhelm and devastate the earth.
New American Standard Bible
"Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.
World English Bible
Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Beholde, he withholdeth the waters, and they drie vp: but when he sendeth them out, they destroy the earth.
Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up;And He sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
Berean Standard Bible
If He holds back the waters, they dry up, and if He releases them, they overwhelm the land.
Contemporary English Version
God can hold back the rain or send a flood,
Complete Jewish Bible
When he holds back water, there is drought; when he sends it out, it overruns the land.
Darby Translation
Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; and he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
Easy-to-Read Version
If he holds back the rain, the earth will dry up. If he lets the rain loose, it will flood the land.
George Lamsa Translation
If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he releases them they ruin the land.
Good News Translation
Drought comes when God withholds rain; floods come when he turns water loose.
Lexham English Bible
Look, if he withholds the water, then they dry up; and if he sends them out, then they overwhelm the land.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Beholde, yf he witholde the waters, they drye vp: Yf he let the go, they destroye the earth.
American Standard Version
Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
Bible in Basic English
Truly, he keeps back the waters and they are dry; he sends them out and the earth is overturned.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Behold, He withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; also He sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
King James Version (1611)
Behold, hee withholdeth the waters, and they drie vp: also hee sendeth them out, and they ouerturne the earth.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Beholde, if he withholde the waters, they drye vp: yf he let them go, they destroy the earth.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
If he should withhold the water, he will dry the earth: and if he should let it loose, he overthrows and destroys it.
English Revised Version
Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If he holdith togidere watris, alle thingis schulen be maad drie; if he sendith out tho watris, tho schulen distrie the erthe.
Update Bible Version
Look, he withholds the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
Webster's Bible Translation
Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
New King James Version
If He withholds the waters, they dry up; If He sends them out, they overwhelm the earth.
New Living Translation
If he holds back the rain, the earth becomes a desert. If he releases the waters, they flood the earth.
New Life Bible
See, He stops the waters and they dry up. He sends them out, and they cover the earth.
New Revised Standard
If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Lo! He holdeth back the waters, and they dry up, or sendeth them out, and they transform the earth:
Douay-Rheims Bible
If he withhold the waters, all things shall be dried up: and if he send them out, they shall overturn the earth.
Revised Standard Version
If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
Young's Literal Translation
Lo, He keepeth in the waters, and they are dried up, And he sendeth them forth, And they overturn the land.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.

Contextual Overview

12 With the aged is wisdom, and understanding is in the length of days. 13 With Him is wisdom and strength; He has forethought and understanding. 14 Behold, He breaks down, and no one builds; He shuts against a man, and no one opens. 15 Behold, He holds back the waters, and they dry up; and He sends them out, and they overflow the earth. 16 With Him is strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are His. 17 He causes wise men to go stripped; and He makes judges fools. 18 He loosens the bonds of kings, and He binds their loins with a girdle; 19 making priests walk away stripped; and He overthrows the mighty; 20 turning aside the lip of the trusted men; and He takes away the reason of the aged. 21 He pours scorn on nobles, and He loosens the girdle of the mighty;

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Behold: Job 12:10, Genesis 8:1, Genesis 8:2, 1 Kings 8:35, 1 Kings 8:36, 1 Kings 17:1, Jeremiah 14:22, Nahum 1:4, Luke 4:25, James 5:17, James 5:18, Revelation 11:6

he sendeth: Genesis 6:13, Genesis 6:17, Genesis 7:11, Genesis 7:23, Psalms 104:7-9, Amos 5:8

Reciprocal: Genesis 7:19 - and all the high hills 2 Peter 3:6 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great; and you will be a blessing.
Genesis 12:4
And Abram went out, even as Jehovah had spoken to him. And Lot went with him. And Abram was a son of seventy five years when he went out from Haran.
Genesis 12:5
And Abram took his wife Sarai, and his brother's son, Lot, and all their substance that they had gained, and the persons they had gotten in Haran. And they went out to go into the land of Canaan. And they came into the land of Canaan.
Genesis 12:16
And he did good to Abram because of her. And he had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and male slaves, and slave-girls, and she-asses, and camels.
Genesis 20:2
And Abraham said with regards to his wife Sarah, She is my sister. And Abimelech the king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
Genesis 40:2
And Pharaoh was angry against his two eunuchs, against the chief of the cupbearers and against the chief of the bakers.
Genesis 41:1
And it happened at the end of two years of days, Pharaoh was dreaming. And, lo, he was standing by the River.
Exodus 2:5
And the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe at the Nile. And her slave women were walking on the side of the Nile. And she saw the basket in the midst of the reeds, and sent her slave-girl and took it.
Exodus 2:15
And Pharaoh heard this word, and he sought to kill Moses. And Moses fled from before Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian. And he sat down by the well.
1 Kings 3:1
And Solomon made an alliance by marriage with Pharaoh the king of Egypt. And he took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David, until he finished building his own house, and the house of Jehovah, and the wall of Jerusalem all around.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up,.... Or "lays a restraint in" or "on the waters" s; either in the ocean, as he did at the creation, when he gathered the waters that were upon the face of the earth into one place, and restrained them there, even in the decreed place he broke up for them, called the sea, and set bars and doors to keep them within bounds, whereby the places they left became dry and the dry land appeared called earth; and so at the time of the flood, when the waters which covered the earth and drowned the world were called off again, the face of it was dry, and so it remains, the waters of the great ocean being restrained from overflowing it; and also when God rebukes the see, and smites the waves of it, or withholds the ebbing and flowing of the tides brooks and rivers of water dry up; see Nahum 1:4; or else this may be understood of God's withholding and restraining the waters in the clouds, and not suffering them to let down rain on the earth; when not only brooks dry up, as the brook Cherith did, where Elijah abode for sometime, but the fruits of the earth, trees, plants, and herbs dry up, wither and die; see

1 Kings 17:7; and this is an emblem in a spiritual sense of God's withholding the word and ordinances, the waters of the sanctuary the means of grace, and of fruitfulness; which when he does, the consequence of it is barrenness and unfruitfulness in kingdoms, cities, towns, families, sad particular persons; and of his withholding the communications of his grace, often compared to water in Scripture, even from his people; the effect of which is, that they are in, withering circumstances, the things that revive seem ready to die, though they shall not; love waxes cold, faith is ready to fail, and hope and strength seem perishing from the Lord:

also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth; as at the time of the flood, when the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and such vast quantities of water issued out as overflowed the whole world, by which it was overturned; and as the Apostle Peter says, "perished", 2 Peter 3:5; though this is also true of inundations that may have been since, which though not universal as that, yet so far as they have reached have overturned all in their way, and carried off the fruits of the earth, the habitations of men, and men themselves; whole countries, cities and towns, have been carried away by the waters of the sea, or sunk into it, particularly all that space. Where now is the Atlantic sea, as Pliny t, from Plato, relates. It is well when the grace of God flows, and overflows, and superabounds abounding sin, and overpowers and overcomes carnal, earthly, and sensual lusts, and reigns where sin did, and teaches to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to mortify the members on the earth.

s יעצר במים "detinebit in aquis", Montanus, Bolducius; "si contineat, vel cohibeat, q. d. imperium exerceat in aquas", Michaelis. t Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 90, 92.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He withholdeth the waters - From the clouds and springs. He has control over the rains and the fountains; and when these are withheld, rivers and lakes become dry. The Syriac renders this, - “if he rebuke the waters,” supposing that there might perhaps be an allusion to the drying up of the Red Sea, or the formation of a passage for the Israelites. But it is remarkable that in the argument here there is no allusion to any historical fact, not to the flood, or to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, or to the passage through the Red Sea, though these occurrences would have furnished so appropriate illustrations of the points under discussion. Is it to be inferred that Job had never heard of any of those events? Or may it have been that the lessons which they were adapted to teach had been actually embodied in the proverbs which he was using, and furnished well-known illustrations or the basis of such apothegms?

He sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth - Such inundations may have occurred in the swollen torrents of Arabia, and indeed are so common everywhere as to furnish a striking illustration of the power and sovereign agency of God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 12:15. He withholdeth the waters — This is, I think, an allusion to the third day's work of the creation, Genesis 1:9: And God said, Let the waters be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear. Thus the earth was drained, and the waters collected into seas, and bound to their particular places.

Also he sendeth them out — Here is also an allusion to the flood, for when he broke up the fountains of the great deep, then the earth was overturned.


 
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