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