Job 12

And Job answered and said, 2 “Truly, then, you {are} the people, and wisdom will die with you. 3 A heart {is} also to me, like you. I {am} not falling below you. And with whom {are} not such {things} as these? \* 4 I, the one calling on God and he answered him, have become laughter to his neighbor: just, blameless—laughter! 5 In the thought of the secure {there is} contempt for misfortune, prepared for the ones slipping of foot. 6 The tents of robbers prosper, and securities {are} to the provokers of God, to {the one} who carries God in his hand. \* 7 But now ask the beasts, and one will teach you, the birds of the heavens, and one will declare to you. 8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, and the fish of the sea will recount to you. \* 9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of God has done this?— 10 in whose hand {is} the life of every living thing and the breath of all flesh of man. \* 11 Does not the ear test words and the palate taste the food {that is} to it? 12 With the aged {is} wisdom, and in length of days {is} understanding. \* 13 With him {are} wisdom and might; to him {are} counsel and understanding. 14 Behold, he breaks down and it is not rebuilt; he closes upon a man and it is not opened. 15 Behold, he withholds the waters and they dry up, and he sends them out and they overthrow the land. \* 16 With him {are} strength and prudence; to him {are} the one straying and the one causing to stray. 17 {He is} the one leading counselors away naked, and judges he makes foolish. 18 He removes the bond of kings and he wraps a cloth around their loins, \* 19 the one leading priests away naked, and the incumbent ones, he overthrows; 20 the one removing the lip {that is} to the ones being trusted, and the discernment of the elders he takes away; 21 the one pouring contempt on nobles, and the belt of the mighty ones he loosens; \* 22 the one revealing deep things out of darkness, and he brings dark shadow into the light; 23 the one magnifying nations, and he destroys them; the one enlarging nations, and he exiles them; \* 24 the one removing a heart from the leaders of the people of the earth, and he causes them to wander in a wasteland {with} no path. 25 They grope in darkness and not in light; he makes them wander like a drunkard. \*