Job
Chapter 12
1 Job answered, saying,
2 You must be the people, and wisdom will die with you.
3 I understand as much as you do; I am not less than you. Indeed, who doesn’t know things like these?
4 I am like someone mocked by their neighbor, who calls on God, and he answers: the honest, good person is made fun of.
5 Someone who is about to fall is like a lamp that someone comfortable looks down on.
6 Thieves live comfortably, and those who challenge God feel safe; into their hands, God gives plenty.
7 Ask the animals, and they will teach you; ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
8 Talk to the earth, it will teach you; and the fish in the sea will tell you.
9 Everyone knows that God has done all this.
10 God holds the life of every creature and the breath of all people.
11 Doesn’t the ear test words? And the mouth taste its food?
12 Old people have wisdom; with many years comes understanding.
13 He has wisdom and power; he gives advice and understanding.
14 Look, he destroys, and it cannot be rebuilt; he imprisons a person, and there can be no escape.
15 Look, he stops the waters, and they dry up; he also sends them out, and they flood the land.
16 He has power and knowledge: both the tricked and the trickster belong to him.
17 He leads advisors away as captives and turns judges into fools.
18 He frees kings from their chains and ties a belt around their waists.
19 He leads rulers away defeated, and overthrows the powerful.
20 God takes away the speech of the reliable and removes the wisdom of the old.
21 God shows scorn for rulers and reduces the power of the strong.
22 He reveals deep truths from darkness and brings the shadow of death into the light.
23 He makes nations grow, and then destroys them; he expands nations, and then reduces them.
24 God removes the understanding of the world’s leaders and makes them wander in a place without paths.
25 They feel around in the dark with no light, and he causes them to stumble like a drunk person.