Job 12:17

He ¹  leads ²  counselors away stripped ³  and makes judges ⁴  into fools. ⁵ 

He leads counsellors away stripped and makes fools of judges.

"He makes counselors walk barefoot And makes fools of judges.

He leads counselors away stripped of good judgment; he drives judges to madness.

He strips experts of their vaunted credentials, exposes judges as witless fools.

He takes away the wisdom of the wise guides, and makes judges foolish;

He leads counselors away stripped, and makes fools of judges.

He leads counselors away plundered, And makes fools of the judges.

He ¹  leads ²  counselors away stripped ³  and makes judges ⁴  into fools. ⁵ 

¹ tn The personal pronoun normally present as the subject of the participle is frequently omitted (see GKC 381 §119.s).

² tn GKC 361-62 §116.x notes that almost as a rule a participle beginning a sentence is continued with a finite verb with or without a ו (vav). Here the participle (“leads”) is followed by an imperfect (“makes fools”) after a ו (vav).

³ tn The word שׁוֹלָל (sholal), from the root שָׁלַל (shalal, “to plunder; to strip”), is an adjective expressing the state (and is in the singular, as if to say, “in the state of one naked” [GKC 375 §118.o]). The word is found in military contexts (see Mic 1:8). It refers to the carrying away of people in nakedness and shame by enemies who plunder (see also Isa 8:1-4). They will go away as slaves and captives, deprived of their outer garments. Some (cf. NAB) suggest “barefoot,” based on the LXX of Mic 1:8; but the meaning of that is uncertain. G. R. Driver wanted to derive the word from an Arabic root “to be mad; to be giddy,” forming a better parallel.

⁴ sn The judges, like the counselors, are nobles in the cities. God may reverse their lot, either by captivity or by shame, and they cannot resist his power.

⁵ tn Some translate this “makes mad” as in Isa 44:25, but this gives the wrong connotation today; more likely God shows them to be fools.