Job 12

1Then Job answered and said:

2No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.

3I too have a mind like you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these?

4I am a laughingstock to my friend, one who calls to God and is answered—a righteous and blameless man, a laughingstock.

5A torch is despised in the thought of one who is at ease; it is ready for those whose foot slips.

6The tents of destroyers are at ease, and those who provoke God are secure—those who carry their god in their hand.

7But please ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens will tell you.

8Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will tell you.

9Who does not know from all these that the hand of Yahweh has done this?

10In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all human flesh.

11Does not the ear test words, as the palate tastes food?

12Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding with long life.

13With him are wisdom and might; to him belong counsel and understanding.

14Look, he tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt; he shuts a man in, and it cannot be opened.

15Look, he holds back the waters, and they dry up; he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

16With him are strength and sound wisdom; the one who goes astray and the one who leads astray belong to him.

17He leads counselors away stripped, and he makes judges foolish.

18He loosens the bonds of kings and binds a belt around their waists.

19He leads priests away stripped, and he overthrows the firmly established.

20He takes away speech from the trusted and removes judgment from the elders.

21He pours contempt on nobles and loosens the belt of the strong.

22He reveals deep things out of darkness and brings the shadow of death to light.

23He makes nations great and destroys them; he spreads nations out and leads them.

24He removes understanding from the leaders of the people of the land and makes them wander in a trackless waste.

25They grope in darkness, without light; he makes them wander like a drunkard.