Job 12:24

he taketh away the heart i. e. the understanding; cf. on ch. Job 11:12.

in a wilderness Same word as in ch. Job 6:18. The word is that rendered "without form," Genesis 1:2; Jeremiah 4:23, i. e. chaos. The reference is to the confusion and perplexity into which the chiefs are thrown. The word is finely used Isaiah 45:19, I said not to the seed of Jacob seek ye me in the waste, i. e. in uncertain conditions (A. V., in vain).