Job 12

Job Replies: The  Lord Has Done This

1 Then Job answered and said:

2  “No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
 3 But I have a understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know b such things as these?
 4 I am c a laughingstock to my friends;
I, who d called to God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
 5 In the thought of one who is e at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
it is ready for those whose feet slip.
 6  f The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hand. ▼
▼ The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

 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 ▼
▼ Or speak to 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 i the hand of the  Lord has done this?
 10 In j his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.
 11 Does not k the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
 12 Wisdom is with l the aged,
and understanding in length of days.
 13  m “With God ▼
▼ Hebrew him
 are wisdom and might;
he has counsel and understanding.
 14 If he tears down, none can rebuild;
if he o shuts a man in, none can open.
 15 If he p withholds the waters, they dry up;
if he q sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
 16 With him are strength and r sound wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.
 17 He leads s counselors away stripped,
and t judges he makes fools.
 18 He u 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
v and takes away the discernment of the elders.
 21 He w pours contempt on princes
and loosens the belt of the strong.
 22 He x uncovers the deeps out of darkness
and brings y deep darkness to light.
 23 He z makes nations great, and he destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and aa leads them away.
 24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
and ab makes them wander in a trackless waste.
 25 They ac grope in the dark without light,
and he makes them ad stagger like a drunken man.
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