| Chapter 12 |
1 |
Then Job answered and said, |
2 |
No doubt but ye are the people, And wisdom shall die with you. |
3 |
But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yea, who knoweth not such things as these? |
4 |
I am as one that is a laughing-stock to his neighbor, I who called upon God, and he answered: The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock. |
5 |
In the thought of him that is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; It is ready for them whose foot slippeth. |
6 |
The tents of robbers prosper, And they that provoke God are secure; Into whose hand God bringeth abundantly. |
7 |
But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; And the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee: |
8 |
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. |
9 |
Who knoweth not in all these, That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this, |
10 |
In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? |
11 |
Doth not the ear try words, Even as the palate tasteth its food? |
12 |
With aged men is wisdom, And in length of days understanding. |
13 |
With God is wisdom and might; He hath counsel and understanding. |
14 |
Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again; He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. |
15 |
Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth. |
16 |
With him is strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his. |
17 |
He leadeth counsellors away stripped, And judges maketh he fools. |
18 |
He looseth the bond of kings, And he bindeth their loins with a girdle. |
19 |
He leadeth priests away stripped, And overthroweth the mighty. |
20 |
He removeth the speech of the trusty, And taketh away the understanding of the elders. |
21 |
He poureth contempt upon princes, And looseth the belt of the strong. |
22 |
He uncovereth deep things out of darkness, And bringeth out to light the shadow of death. |
23 |
He increaseth the nations, and he destroyeth them: He enlargeth the nations, and he leadeth them captive. |
24 |
He taketh away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, And causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. |
25 |
They grope in the dark without light; And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man. |