12
1 Then Job answered,
2 “No doubt,
but you are
the people,
and wisdom will
die with you.
3 But
I have
understanding as
well as you;
I am not inferior
to you.
Yes, who doesn’t know
such things
as these?
4 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.
5 In
the thought of
him who is at
ease there is contempt
for misfortune.
It is ready for
them whose foot slips.
6 The tents
of robbers prosper.
Those who provoke
God are secure,
who carry their
god in their
hands.
7 “But ask
the animals now,
and they will
teach you;
the birds of
the sky, and they
will tell you.
8 Or
speak to the earth,
and it will teach
you.
The fish of
the sea will
declare to you.
9 Who doesn’t
know that in
all these,
the LORD’s hand
has done this,
10 in
whose hand is
the life of
every living thing,
and the breath
of all mankind?
11 Doesn’t
the ear try words,
even as the
palate tastes
its food?
12 With
aged men is
wisdom,
in length of
days understanding.
13 “With
God is wisdom
and might.
He has counsel
and understanding.
14 Behold,
he breaks down,
and it can’t
be built again.
He imprisons
a man, and there
can be no
release.
15 Behold,
he withholds the
waters, and they
dry up.
Again, he sends
them out, and they
overturn the earth.
16 With
him is strength
and wisdom.
The deceived and
the deceiver are
his.
17 He leads
counselors away
stripped.
He makes judges
fools.
18 He
loosens the bond
of kings.
He binds their waist
with a belt.
19 He leads
priests away
stripped,
and overthrows
the mighty.
20 He removes
the speech of those
who are trusted,
and takes away
the understanding
of the elders.
21 He
pours contempt on
princes,
and loosens the
belt of the strong.
22 He
uncovers deep
things out of
darkness,
and brings out
to light the
shadow of death.
23 He increases
the nations, and he
destroys them.
He enlarges the
nations, and he
leads them captive.
24 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.
25 They
grope in the
dark without light.
He makes them
stagger like a
drunken man.