Job 12:1-25 AMP

[1] Then Job responded, [2] “No doubt you are the [only wise] people [in the world], And wisdom will die with you! [3] But I have intelligence and understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these [of God’s wisdom and might]? [4] I am a joke to my friends; I, one whom God answered when he called upon Him—A just and blameless man is a joke [and laughed to scorn]. [5] He who is at ease has contempt for misfortune, But misfortune is ready [and anxiously waiting] for those whose feet slip. [6] The tents of the destroyers prosper; And those who provoke God are [apparently] secure, Whom God brings into their power. [7] “Now ask the animals, and let them teach you [that God does not deal with His creatures according to their character]; And ask the birds of the air, and let them tell you; [8] Or speak to the earth [with its many forms of life], and it will teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare [this truth] to you. [9] Who among all these does not recognize [in all these things that good and evil are randomly scattered throughout nature and human life] That the hand of the LORD has done this, [10] In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? [11] Does the ear not put words to the test, Just as the palate tastes its food [distinguishing between the desirable and the undesirable]? [12] With the aged [you say] is wisdom, And with long life is understanding. [13] “But [only] with Him are [perfect] wisdom and might; He [alone] has [true] counsel and understanding. [14] Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt; He imprisons a man, and there can be no release. [15] Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; Again, He sends the waters out, and they overwhelm and devastate the earth. [16] With Him are might and sound wisdom, The misled and the misleader are His [and in His power]. [17] He makes [great and scheming] counselors walk barefoot And makes fools of judges. [18] He loosens the bond of kings And binds their loins with a loincloth. [19] He makes priests walk barefoot, And He overturns men firmly seated and secure. [20] He deprives the trusted ones of speech And takes away the discernment and discretion of the aged. [21] He pours contempt on princes and nobles And loosens the belt of the strong [disabling them]. [22] He uncovers mysteries [that are difficult to grasp and understand] out of the darkness And brings black gloom and the shadow of death into light. [23] He makes nations great, and He destroys them; He enlarges nations, and leads them away [captive]. [24] He removes intelligence and understanding from the leaders of the people of the earth And makes them wander and move blindly in a pathless waste. [25] They grope in darkness without light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.”