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Read the Bible

New Living Translation

Job 12:8

Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you. Let the fish in the sea speak to you.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Animals;   Atheism;   Design;   Geology;   God;   Philosophy;   Religion;   Wisdom;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Fishes;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Ant;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Hypocrisy;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;   Proverbs, Book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Fish;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Job;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Or speak to the earth, and it will instruct you;let the fish of the sea inform you.
Hebrew Names Version
Or speak to the eretz, and it shall teach you; The fish of the sea shall declare to you.
King James Version
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
English Standard Version
or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
New Century Version
Speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea tell you.
New English Translation
Or speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea declare to you.
Amplified Bible
Or speak to the earth [with its many forms of life], and it will teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare [this truth] to you.
New American Standard Bible
"Or speak to the earth, and have it teach you; And have the fish of the sea tell you.
World English Bible
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you; The fish of the sea shall declare to you.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Or speake to the earth, and it shall shewe thee: or the fishes of the sea, and they shall declare vnto thee.
Legacy Standard Bible
Or muse to the earth, and let it instruct you;And let the fish of the sea recount it to you.
Berean Standard Bible
Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; let the fish of the sea inform you.
Contemporary English Version
the flowers and the fish.
Complete Jewish Bible
or speak to the earth — it will teach you — and the fish in the sea will inform you:
Darby Translation
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
Easy-to-Read Version
Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you. Or let the fish in the sea tell you their wisdom.
George Lamsa Translation
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you; and the fishes of the sea shall declare to you.
Good News Translation
ask the creatures of earth and sea for their wisdom.
Lexham English Bible
or ask the earth, and it will teach you, and the fishes of the sea will declare to you.
Literal Translation
or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will recount to you;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Speake to the earth, and it shall shewe the: Or to the fyshes of the see, and they shal certifie the.
American Standard Version
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
Bible in Basic English
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.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee;
King James Version (1611)
Or speake to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare vnto thee.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Or the encrease of the earth, and it shall shew thee: or the fishes of the sea, and they shall certifie thee.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Tell the earth, if it may speak to thee: and the fishes of the sea shall explain to thee.
English Revised Version
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Speke thou to the erthe, and it schal answere thee; and the fischis of the see schulen telle tho thingis.
Update Bible Version
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you; And the fish of the sea shall declare to you.
Webster's Bible Translation
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare to thee.
New King James Version
Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you.
New Life Bible
Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you. Let the fish of the sea make it known to you.
New Revised Standard
ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Or address the earth, and it will teach thee, and the fishes of the sea, will recount it to thee:
Douay-Rheims Bible
Speak to the earth, and it shall answer thee: and the fishes of the sea shall tell.
Revised Standard Version
or the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Young's Literal Translation
Or talk to the earth, and it sheweth thee, And fishes of the sea recount to thee:
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you.

Contextual Overview

6 But robbers are left in peace, and those who provoke God live in safety— though God keeps them in his power. 7 "Just ask the animals, and they will teach you. Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. 8 Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you. Let the fish in the sea speak to you. 9 For they all know that my disaster has come from the hand of the Lord . 10 For the life of every living thing is in his hand, and the breath of every human being. 11 The ear tests the words it hears just as the mouth distinguishes between foods.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: Genesis 1:25 - General Job 8:10 - Shall not Job 18:3 - Wherefore Proverbs 6:6 - the ant

Cross-References

Genesis 4:26
When Seth grew up, he had a son and named him Enosh. At that time people first began to worship the Lord by name.
Genesis 12:12
When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let's kill him; then we can have her!'
Genesis 12:14
And sure enough, when Abram arrived in Egypt, everyone noticed Sarai's beauty.
Genesis 12:15
When the palace officials saw her, they sang her praises to Pharaoh, their king, and Sarai was taken into his palace.
Genesis 12:16
Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her—sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
Genesis 13:4
This was the same place where Abram had built the altar, and there he worshiped the Lord again.
Genesis 21:33
Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he worshiped the Lord , the Eternal God.
Genesis 28:19
He named that place Bethel (which means "house of God"), although it was previously called Luz.
Genesis 35:3
We are now going to Bethel, where I will build an altar to the God who answered my prayers when I was in distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone."
Joshua 7:2
Joshua sent some of his men from Jericho to spy out the town of Ai, east of Bethel, near Beth-aven.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee,.... Or ask "a sprig of the earth" n, any shrub, or tree, or whatsoever grows out of it, and they will all unite in this doctrine, that they are raised and preserved by the power of God, and are so many instances of his wisdom, power, and goodness:

and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee; as mute as they are, they will proclaim this truth, that God is the mighty Maker and wise Disposer of them.

n שיח לארץ "virgultum terrae", Pagninus, Schmidt; so Drusius and Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.


 
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