[1] Then Job responded, [2] "Truly then you are the people, And with you wisdom will die! [3] "But I have intelligence as well as you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these? [4] "I am a joke to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The just and blameless man is a joke. [5] "He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt, As prepared for those whose feet slip. [6] "The tents of the destroyers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure, Whom God brings into their power. [7] "But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. [8] "Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you. [9] "Who among all these does not know 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 not the ear test words, As the palate tastes its food? [12] "Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is understanding. [13] "With Him are wisdom and might; To Him belong 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; And He sends them out, and they inundate 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 loosens the bond of kings And binds their loins with a girdle. [19] "He makes priests walk barefoot And overthrows the secure ones. [20] "He deprives the trusted ones of speech And takes away the discernment 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 the deep darkness into light. [23] "He makes the nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away. [24] "He deprives of intelligence the chiefs 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 stagger like a drunken man.
