NETtext - Job - 12

12:1  Then Job answered:

12:2  "Without a doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.

12:3  I also have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?

12:4  I am a laughingstock to my friends, I, who called on God and whom he answered - a righteous and blameless man is a laughingstock!

12:5  For calamity, there is derision (according to the ideas of the fortunate ) - a fate for those whose feet slip!

12:6  But the tents of robbers are peaceful, and those who provoke God are confident - who carry their god in their hands.

12:7  "But now, ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.

12:8  Or speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea declare to you.

12:9  Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this,

12:10  in whose hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all the human race.

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  "With God are wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.

12:14  If he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt; if he imprisons a person, there is no escape.

12:15  If he holds back the waters, then they dry up; if he releases them, they destroy the land.

12:16  With him are strength and prudence; both the one who goes astray and the one who misleads are his.

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

12:18  He loosens the bonds of kings and binds a loincloth around their waist.

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

12:20  He deprives the trusted advisers of speech and takes away the discernment of elders.

12:21  He pours contempt on noblemen and disarms the powerful.

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 extends the boundaries of nations and disperses them.

12:24  He deprives the leaders of the earth of their understanding; he makes them wander in a trackless desert waste.

12:25  They grope about in darkness without light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.