Job 12

Job

¹Then Job replied:

²“Doubtless you are the only people who matter,

and wisdom will die with you!

³But 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 on God and he answered—

a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!

⁵Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune

as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

⁶The tents of marauders are undisturbed,

and those who provoke God are secure—

those God has in his hand.

⁷“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,

or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;

⁸or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,

or let the fish in the sea inform you.

⁹Which of all these does not know

that the hand of the Lord has done this?

¹⁰In his hand is the life of every creature

and the breath of all mankind.

¹¹Does not the ear test words

as the tongue tastes food?

¹²Is not wisdom found among the aged?

Does not long life bring understanding?

¹³“To God belong wisdom and power;

counsel and understanding are his.

¹⁴What he tears down cannot be rebuilt;

those he imprisons cannot be released.

¹⁵If he holds back the waters, there is drought;

if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.

¹⁶To him belong strength and insight;

both deceived and deceiver are his.

¹⁷He leads rulers away stripped

and makes fools of judges.

¹⁸He takes off the shackles put on by kings

and ties a loincloth around their waist.

¹⁹He leads priests away stripped

and overthrows officials long established.

²⁰He silences the lips of trusted advisers

and takes away the discernment of elders.

²¹He pours contempt on nobles

and disarms the mighty.

²²He reveals the deep things of darkness

and brings utter darkness into the light.

²³He makes nations great, and destroys them;

he enlarges nations, and disperses them.

²⁴He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason;

he makes them wander in a trackless waste.

²⁵They grope in darkness with no light;

he makes them stagger like drunkards.