Job 12 / 42
- 1
(Job Replies: The Lord Has Done This)
Then Job answered and said:
- 2
"No doubt 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.
Who does not know such things as these?
- 4
I am a laughingstock to my friends;
I, who called to God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
- 5
In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
it is ready for those whose feet slip.
- 6
The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hand.
- 7
"But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
- 8
or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
- 9
Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
- 10
In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.
- 11
Does not the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
- 12
Wisdom is with the aged,
and understanding in length of days.
- 13
"With God are wisdom and might;
he has counsel and understanding.
- 14
If he tears down, none can rebuild;
if he shuts a man in, none can open.
- 15
If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
- 16
With him are strength and sound wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.
- 17
He leads counselors away stripped,
and judges he makes fools.
- 18
He looses the bonds of kings
and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
- 19
He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows the mighty.
- 20
He deprives of speech those who are trusted
and takes away the discernment of the elders.
- 21
He pours contempt on princes
and loosens the belt of the strong.
- 22
He uncovers the deeps out of darkness
and brings deep darkness to light.
- 23
He makes nations great, and he destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
- 24
He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
- 25
They grope in the dark without light,
and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.