Job 12

Job Presents His Case

¹Then Job answered:

²“Truly then you are the people

with whom wisdom itself will die!

³But I also have a mind;

I am not inferior to you.

Who does not know such things as these?

⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends,

though I called on God, and He answered.

The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.1

⁵The one at ease scorns misfortune

as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

⁶The tents of robbers are safe,

and those who provoke God are secure—

those who carry their god in their hands.

⁷But ask the animals, and they will instruct you;

ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you.

⁸Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you;

let the fish of the sea inform you.

⁹Which of all these does not know

that the hand of the LORD has done this?

¹⁰The life of every living thing is in His hand,

as well as the breath of all mankind.

¹¹Does not the ear test words

as the tongue tastes its food?

¹²Wisdom is found with the elderly,

and understanding comes with long life.

¹³Wisdom and strength belong to God;

counsel and understanding are His.

¹⁴What He tears down cannot be rebuilt;

the man He imprisons cannot be released.

¹⁵If He holds back the waters, they dry up,

and if He releases them, they overwhelm the land.

¹⁶True wisdom and power belong to Him.

The deceived and the deceiver are His.

¹⁷He leads counselors away barefoot

and makes fools of judges.

¹⁸He loosens the bonds placed by kings

and fastens a belt around their waists.

¹⁹He leads priests away barefoot

and overthrows the established.

²⁰He deprives the trusted of speech

and takes away the discernment of elders.

²¹He pours out contempt on nobles

and disarms the mighty.

²²He reveals the deep things of darkness

and brings deep shadows into light.

²³He makes nations great and destroys them;

He enlarges nations, then disperses them.

²⁴He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason

and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

²⁵They grope in the darkness without light;

He makes them stagger like drunkards.