ACV - Job - 12

12:1  Then Job answered and said,

12:2  No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.

12:3  But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who does not know such things as these?

12:4  I am as a man who is a laughing-stock to his neighbor. I who called upon God, and he answered. The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock.

12:5  In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for calamity. It is ready for those whose foot slips.

12:6  The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure. Into whose hand God brings abundantly.

12:7  But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee, and the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee.

12:8  Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee, and the fishes of the sea shall declare to thee.

12:9  Who does not know in all these, that the hand of Jehovah has wrought this,

12:10  in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?

12:11  Does not the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?

12:12  With aged men is wisdom, and in length of days understanding.

12:13  With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.

12:14  Behold, he breaks down, and it cannot be built again. He shuts up a man, and there can be no opening.

12:15  Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

12:16  With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.

12:17  He leads counselors away stripped, and he makes judges fools.

12:18  He loosens the bond of kings, and he binds their loins with a belt.

12:19  He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.

12:20  He removes the speech of the trustworthy, and takes away the understanding of the elders.

12:21  He pours contempt upon rulers, and weakens the strength of the strong.

12:22  He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.

12:23  He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.

12:24  He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

12:25  They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them to stagger like a drunken man.