[1] Then Job answered and said, [2] “Truly then you are the people, And with you wisdom will die! [3] “But I have a heart of wisdom as well as you; I do not fall short of you. And who does not know such things as these? [4] “I am a laughingstock to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The righteous and blameless man is a laughingstock. [5] “As for upheaval, there is only contempt by the one who acts at ease, But it is prepared for those whose feet slip. [6] “The tents of the destroyers are complacent, And those who provoke God are secure, Whom God brings into their power. [7] “But now ask the beasts, and let them instruct you; And the birds of the sky, and let them tell you. [8] “Or muse to the earth, and let it instruct you; And let the fish of the sea recount it to you. [9] “Who among all these does not know That the hand of Yahweh has done this, [10] In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all the flesh of man? [11] “Does not the ear test words, As the palate tastes its food? [12] “Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is discernment. [13] “With Him are wisdom and might; To Him belong counsel and discernment. [14] “Behold, He pulls down, and it cannot be rebuilt; He closes a man in, and it cannot be opened. [15] “Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they overturn the earth. [16] “With Him are strength and sound wisdom; The misled and the misleader belong to Him. [17] “He makes counselors walk barefoot And makes fools of judges. [18] “He opens the bond of kings And binds their loins with a belt. [19] “He makes priests walk barefoot And subverts the enduring ones. [20] “He removes speech from the faithful And takes away the discerning taste of the elders. [21] “He pours contempt on nobles And loosens the belt of the strong. [22] “He reveals mysteries from the darkness And brings out the shadows of death into light. [23] “He makes the nations great, then makes them perish; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away. [24] “He removes the heart of wisdom from the heads of the earth’s people And makes them wander in a pathless waste. [25] “They grope in darkness with no light, And He makes them wander about like a drunken man.
