12:1 | Then Job replied: |
12:2 | "Doubtless you are the people, and wisdom will die with you! |
12:3 | But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things? |
12:4 | "I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called upon God and he answered--a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless! |
12:5 | Men at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping. |
12:6 | The tents of marauders are undisturbed, and those who provoke God are secure--those who carry their god in their hands. |
12:7 | "But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; |
12:8 | or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. |
12:9 | Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? |
12:10 | In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. |
12:11 | Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food? |
12:12 | Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding? |
12:13 | "To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his. |
12:14 | What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man he imprisons cannot be released. |
12:15 | If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land. |
12:16 | To him belong strength and victory; both deceived and deceiver are his. |
12:17 | He leads counselors away stripped and makes fools of judges. |
12:18 | He takes off the shackles put on by kings and ties a loincloth around their waist. |
12:19 | He leads priests away stripped and overthrows men long established. |
12:20 | He silences the lips of trusted advisers and takes away the discernment of elders. |
12:21 | He pours contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty. |
12:22 | He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light. |
12:23 | He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them. |
12:24 | He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he sends them wandering through a trackless waste. |
12:25 | They grope in darkness with no light; he makes them stagger like drunkards. |
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