Job 12

²“No doubt you are the people,

and wisdom will die with you.

³But I have understanding as well as you;

I am not inferior to you.

Who does not know such things as these?

⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends;

I, who called upon God and he answered me,

a just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock.

⁵Those at ease have contempt for misfortune,

but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.

⁶The tents of robbers are at peace,

and those who provoke God are secure,

who bring their god in their hands.

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

the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

⁸ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you;

and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

⁹Who among all these does not know

that the hand of the Lord has done this?

¹⁰In his hand is the life of every living thing

and the breath of every human being.

¹¹Does not the ear test words

as the palate tastes food?

¹²Is wisdom with the aged,

and understanding in length of days?

¹³“With God are wisdom and strength;

he has counsel and understanding.

¹⁴If he tears down, no one can rebuild;

if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.

¹⁵If he withholds the waters, they dry up;

if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.

¹⁶With him are strength and wisdom;

the deceived and the deceiver are his.

¹⁷He leads counselors away stripped,

and makes fools of judges.

¹⁸He looses the sash of kings,

and binds a waistcloth on their loins.

¹⁹He leads priests away stripped,

and overthrows the mighty.

²⁰He deprives of speech those who are trusted,

and takes away the discernment of the elders.

²¹He pours contempt on princes,

and looses the belt of the strong.

²²He uncovers the deeps out of darkness,

and brings deep darkness to light.

²³He makes nations great, then destroys them;

he enlarges nations, then leads them away.

²⁴He strips understanding from the leaders of the earth,

and makes them wander in a pathless waste.

²⁵They grope in the dark without light;

he makes them stagger like a drunkard.