The Book of Job (WEB)

12: 1Then Job answered,

 ^12:2"No doubt, but you are the people,
      And wisdom shall die with you.

 ^12:3But I have understanding as well as you;
      I am not inferior to you:
      Yes, who doesn't know such things as these?

 ^12:4I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor,
      I, who called on God, and he answered.
      The just, the blameless man is a joke.

 ^12:5In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune,
      It is ready for them whose foot slips.

 ^12:6The tents of robbers prosper,
      Those who provoke God are secure;
      Who carry their God in their hands.

  ^12:7"But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you;
      The birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.

 ^12:8Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you;
      The fish of the sea shall declare to you.

 ^12:9Who doesn't know that in all these,
      The hand of Yahweh has done this,

 ^12:10In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
      The breath of all mankind?

 ^12:11Doesn't the ear try words,
      Even as the palate tastes its food?

 ^12:12With aged men is wisdom,
      In length of days understanding.

  ^12:13"With God is wisdom and might.
      He has counsel and understanding.

 ^12:14Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again;
      He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

 ^12:15Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up;
      Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

 ^12:16With him is strength and wisdom;
      The deceived and the deceiver are his.

 ^12:17He leads counselors away stripped.
      He makes judges fools.

 ^12:18He loosens the bond of kings,
      He binds their loins with a belt.

 ^12:19He leads priests away stripped,
      And overthrows the mighty.

 ^12:20He removes the speech of those who are trusted,
      And takes away the understanding of the elders.

 ^12:21He pours contempt on princes,
      And loosens the belt of the strong.

 ^12:22He uncovers deep things out of darkness,
      And brings out to light the shadow of death.

 ^12:23He increases the nations, and he destroys them.
      He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.

 ^12:24He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth,
      And causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

 ^12:25They grope in the dark without light.
      He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

World English Bible