Job 12- 1
- Then Job replied:
- 2
- "Doubtless you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!
- 3
- But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things?
- 4
- "I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called upon God and he answered-- a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
- 5
- Men at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
- 6
- The tents of marauders are undisturbed, and those who provoke God are secure-- those who carry their god in their hands. [1]
- 7
- "But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
- 8
- or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you.
- 9
- Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
- 10
- In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.
- 11
- Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food?
- 12
- Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?
- 13
- "To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.
- 14
- What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man he imprisons cannot be released.
- 15
- If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.
- 16
- To him belong strength and victory; both deceived and deceiver are his.
- 17
- He leads counselors away stripped and makes fools of judges.
- 18
- He takes off the shackles put on by kings and ties a loincloth [2] around their waist.
- 19
- He leads priests away stripped and overthrows men long established.
- 20
- He silences the lips of trusted advisers and takes away the discernment of elders.
- 21
- He pours contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.
- 22
- He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light.
- 23
- He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them.
- 24
- He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he sends them wandering through a trackless waste.
- 25
- They grope in darkness with no light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.
- [6] Or secure in what God's hand brings them
- [18] Or shackles of kings and ties a belt