CPDV - Job - 12

12:1  Then Job, answering, said:

12:2  Are you, therefore, alone among men, and will wisdom die with you?

12:3  And I have a heart just as you also do, and I am not inferior to you. For who is ignorant of these things, which you know?

12:4  He who is mocked by his friends as I am, will call upon God, and he will listen to him because it is the sincerity of the just that is being mocked.

12:5  The lamp that is despised in the thoughts of the rich is ready for the appointed time.

12:6  The tabernacles of robbers are numerous, and they provoke God boldly; whereas, it is he who has given all things into their hands.

12:7  In truth, ask the mules, and they will teach you, and the birds of the sky, and they will reveal to you.

12:8  Speak with the earth, and it will respond to you, and the fish of the sea will explain.

12:9  Who is ignorant that the hand of the Lord has made all these things?

12:10  In his hand is the soul of all the living and the spirit of all the flesh of mankind.

12:11  Does not the ear perceive words, and the palate, when eating, perceive flavor?

12:12  In old age is wisdom, and in length of days is prudence.

12:13  With him is wisdom and strength, he has counsel and understanding.

12:14  If he tears down, there is no one who can build up; if he encloses a man, there is no one who can open.

12:15  If he restrains the waters, everything will dry up; and if he sends them forth, they will subdue the land.

12:16  With him is strength and wisdom; he knows both the deceiver and he who is deceived.

12:17  He leads advisors to a foolish end and judges to stupidity.

12:18  He removes the belt of kings and encircles their waist with a rope.

12:19  He leads away priests in dishonor and displaces nobles,

12:20  altering the lips of those who speak the truth and sweeping away the teaching of the aged.

12:21  He pours disdain upon the leaders, relieving those who had been oppressed.

12:22  He reveals the depths of the darkness, and he brings the shadow of death into the light.

12:23  He multiplies peoples, and destroys them, and, having been overthrown, he restores them anew.

12:24  He transforms the heart of the leaders of the people on earth, and misleads those who in vain advance upon the inviolable.

12:25  They will grope as in the darkness, not the light, and he will make them stagger like drunkards.