Job 12

1Then Job answered, 2and wisdom shall die with you. “No doubt, but you are the people, 3I am not inferior to you. Yes, who doesn’t know such things as these? But I have understanding as well as you; 4I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke. I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, 5It is ready for them whose foot slips. In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune. 6Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their God in their hands. The tents of robbers prosper. 7the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you. “But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; 8The fish of the sea shall declare to you. Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you. 9Yahweh’s hand has done this, Who doesn’t know that in all these, 10and the breath of all mankind? in whose hand is the life of every living thing, 11even as the palate tastes its food? Doesn’t the ear try words, 12in length of days understanding. With aged men is wisdom, 13He has counsel and understanding. “With God is wisdom and might. 14He imprisons a man, and there can be no release. Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again. 15Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth. Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. 16The deceived and the deceiver are his. With him is strength and wisdom. 17He makes judges fools. He leads counselors away stripped. 18He binds their waist with a belt. He loosens the bond of kings. 19and overthrows the mighty. He leads priests away stripped, 20and takes away the understanding of the elders. He removes the speech of those who are trusted, 21and loosens the belt of the strong. He pours contempt on princes, 22and brings out to light the shadow of death. He uncovers deep things out of darkness, 23He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive. He increases the nations, and he destroys them. 24and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, 25He makes them stagger like a drunken man. They grope in the dark without light.