Study

12. Job Replies

    ² “Doubtless you are the only people who matter,
   and wisdom will die with you!
³ But I have a mind as well as you;
   I am not inferior to you.
   Who does not know all these things?

    ⁴ “I have become a laughingstock to my friends,
   though I called on God and he answered—
   a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
⁵ Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune
   as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
⁶ The tents of marauders are undisturbed,
   and those who provoke God are secure—
   those God has in his hand. Or those whose god is in their own hand

    ⁷ “But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
   or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
⁸ or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
   or let the fish in the sea inform you.
⁹ Which of all these does not know
   that the hand of the LORD has done this?
¹⁰ In his hand is the life of every creature
   and the breath of all mankind.
¹¹ Does not the ear test words
   as the tongue tastes food?
¹² Is not wisdom found among the aged?
   Does not long life bring understanding?

    ¹³ “To God belong wisdom and power;
   counsel and understanding are his.
¹⁴ What he tears down cannot be rebuilt;
   those he imprisons cannot be released.
¹⁵ If he holds back the waters, there is drought;
   if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.
¹⁶ To him belong strength and insight;
   both deceived and deceiver are his.
¹⁷ He leads rulers away stripped
   and makes fools of judges.
¹⁸ He takes off the shackles put on by kings
   and ties a loincloth Or shackles of kings / and ties a belt around their waist.
¹⁹ He leads priests away stripped
   and overthrows officials long established.
²⁰ He silences the lips of trusted advisers
   and takes away the discernment of elders.
²¹ He pours contempt on nobles
   and disarms the mighty.
²² He reveals the deep things of darkness
   and brings utter darkness into the light.
²³ He makes nations great, and destroys them;
   he enlarges nations, and disperses them.
²⁴ He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason;
   he makes them wander in a trackless waste.
²⁵ They grope in darkness with no light;
   he makes them stagger like drunkards.