Job’s Equal Wisdom

12:1  Undeterred by Zophar’s stringent warnings, Job answers Zophar’s harshness with equal venom.

12:2  Doubtless. Job begins his reply to Zophar with the same word with which he began his response to Bildad (ʾomnam, “surely, certainly, without a doubt,” 9:2), but here the word drips with intentional sarcasm. Job clearly has his doubts about the wisdom of the three friends—especially after the rather unfeeling rebuke that Zophar has just pronounced. He directs his reply at all three friends and their cumulative attack.

The phrase you are the people seems awkward in English, but in Hebrew it has the sense of “everyone,” or at least “everyone that counts!” The friends are acting, Job implies, as if they have attained a wisdom that exceeds that of all the sages in the world. A…