Job 12
v1
Then Job answered,
v2
“No doubt, but you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
v3
But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who doesn’t know such things as these?
v4
I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.
v5
In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.
v6
The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands.
v7
“But ask the animals, now, and they will teach you; the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
v8
Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you. The fish of the sea will declare to you.
v9
Who doesn’t know that in all these, Yahweh’s hand has done this,
v10
in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?
v11
Doesn’t the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?
v12
With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.
v13
“With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.
v14
Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
v15
Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
v16
With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.
v17
He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.
v18
He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a belt.
v19
He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.
v20
He removes the speech of those who are trusted, and takes away the understanding of the elders.
v21
He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the strong.
v22
He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.
v23
He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.
v24
He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
v25
They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.