Job, 12

¹ Then Job said in reply:

² “Surely you are the people who know,^*1 And wisdom will die out with you!

³ But I too have understanding.^*1 I am not inferior to you. Who does not know these things?

⁴ I have become a laughingstock to my companions, One calling to God for an answer. A righteous and blameless man is a laughingstock.

⁵ The carefree person has contempt for calamity, Thinking it is only for those whose feet are unsteady.^*1

⁶ The tents of robbers are at peace, And those who provoke God are secure, Those who have their god in their hands.

⁷ However, ask, please, the animals, and they will instruct you; Also the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you.

⁸ Or give consideration^*1 to the earth, and it will instruct you; And the fish of the sea will declare it to you.

⁹ Who among all these does not know That the hand of Jehovah has done this?

¹⁰ In his hand is the life of every living thing^*1 And the spirit^*2 of every human.^*3

¹¹ Does not the ear test out words As the tongue^*1 tastes food?

¹² Is not wisdom found among the aged, And does not understanding come with a long life?

¹³ With him there are wisdom and mightiness; He has counsel and understanding.

¹⁴ When he tears something down, it cannot be rebuilt; What he has shut, no man can open.

¹⁵ When he withholds the waters, everything dries up; When he sends them out, they overwhelm the earth.

¹⁶ With him there are strength and practical wisdom; To him belong the one going astray and the one leading astray;

¹⁷ He makes counselors go barefoot,^*1 And he makes fools of judges.

¹⁸ He loosens the bonds imposed by kings, And he binds a belt around their waist.

¹⁹ He makes priests walk barefoot, And he overthrows those who are firmly established in power;

²⁰ He deprives trusted advisers of speech And takes away the sensibleness of old men;^*1

²¹ He pours out contempt upon nobles, And he makes powerful ones weak;^*1

²² He reveals deep things from the darkness, And he brings deep darkness into the light;

²³ He makes nations grow great in order to destroy them; He enlarges nations, that he may lead them into exile.

²⁴ He takes away the understanding^*1 of the leaders of the people And makes them wander in trackless wastelands.

²⁵ They grope in darkness, where there is no light; He makes them wander about like drunken men.