| Geneva Study Bible He {m} increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again. (m) In this discourse of God's wonderful works, Job shows that whatever is done in this world both in the order and change of things, is by God's will and appointment, in which he declares that he thinks well of God, and is able to set forth his power in words as they that reasoned against him were. Wesley's Notes 12:23 Nations - What hitherto he said of princes, he now applies to nations, whom God does either increase or diminish as he pleases. King James Translators' Notes straiteneth: Heb. leadeth in Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 23. Isa 9:3; Ps 107:38, 39, which Psalm quotes this chapter elsewhere. (See on [499]Job 12:21). straiteneth-literally, "leadeth in," that is, "reduces." Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 12:12-25 This is a noble discourse of Job concerning the wisdom, power, and sovereignty of God, in ordering all the affairs of the children of men, according to the counsel of His own will, which none can resist. It were well if wise and good men, who differ about lesser things, would see how it is for their honour and comfort, and the good of others, to dwell most upon the great things in which they agree. Here are no complaints, or reflections. He gives many instances of God's powerful management of the children of men, overruling all their counsels, and overcoming all their oppositions. Having all strength and wisdom, God knows how to make use, even of those who are foolish and bad; otherwise there is so little wisdom and so little honesty in the world, that all had been in confusion and ruin long ago. These important truths were suited to convince the disputants that they were out of their depth in attempting to assign the Lord's reasons for afflicting Job; his ways are unsearchable, and his judgments past finding out. Let us remark what beautiful illustrations there are in the word of God, confirming his sovereignty, and wisdom in that sovereignty: but the highest and infinitely the most important is, that the Lord Jesus was crucified by the malice of the Jews; and who but the Lord could have known that this one event was the salvation of the world? | 
