The Book of Job

12: 1Then Job answered and said,

 ^12:2No doubt but ye are the people,

 And wisdom shall die with you.

 ^12:3But I have understanding as well as you;

 I am not inferior to you:

 Yea, who knoweth not such things as these?

 ^12:4I am as one that is a laughing-stock to his neighbor,

 I who called upon God, and he answered:

 The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock.

 ^12:5In the thought of him that is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;

 It is ready for them whose foot slippeth.

 ^12:6The tents of robbers prosper,

 And they that provoke God are secure;

 Into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
 
 

 ^12:7But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee;

 And the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee:

 ^12:8Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee;

 And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.

 ^12:9Who knoweth not in all these,

 That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this,

 ^12:10In whose hand is the soul of every living thing,

 And the breath of all mankind?

 ^12:11Doth not the ear try words,

 Even as the palate tasteth its food?

 ^12:12With aged men is wisdom,

 And in length of days understanding.
 
 

 ^12:13With God is wisdom and might;

 He hath counsel and understanding.

 ^12:14Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again;

 He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.

 ^12:15Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up;

 Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.

 ^12:16With him is strength and wisdom;

 The deceived and the deceiver are his.

 ^12:17He leadeth counsellors away stripped,

 And judges maketh he fools.

 ^12:18He looseth the bond of kings,

 And he bindeth their loins with a girdle.

 ^12:19He leadeth priests away stripped,

 And overthroweth the mighty.

 ^12:20He removeth the speech of the trusty,

 And taketh away the understanding of the elders.

 ^12:21He poureth contempt upon princes,

 And looseth the belt of the strong.

 ^12:22He uncovereth deep things out of darkness,

 And bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

 ^12:23He increaseth the nations, and he destroyeth them:

 He enlargeth the nations, and he leadeth them captive.

 ^12:24He taketh away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth,

 And causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

 ^12:25They grope in the dark without light;

 And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.