THE BOOK OF JOB

 

Job Chapter 12

1 ¶ Then Job replied saying,

2 Surely you are the only wise people, and wisdom will die with you.

3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who does not knows such things as these?

4 I am like one who is mocked by his neighbor, who calls upon God, and expects him to answer: a just and blameless man is laughed to scorn.

5 He who lives at ease regards one who suffers misfortune with contempt.

6 ¶ The dwellings of thieves prosper, and those who provoke God are secure; God provides for them abundantly.

7 But ask now the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you:

8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you: and the fishes of the sea shall declare to you.

9 Which of these does not know that the hand of the LORD has made them?

10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

11 Does not the ear test words? and the mouth taste food?

12 ¶ The aged are wise; and those who live long understand.

13 But God has wisdom and strength, he has counsel and understanding.

14 Behold, what he tears down, cannot be rebuilt: he puts a man in prison, and there can be no release.

15 Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up: he also sends them out, and they engulf the earth.

16 With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.

17 He leads counselors away stripped, and makes the judges fools.

18 He opens the prison of kings, and wraps their hips with cloth.

19 He leads princes away as spoil, and overthrows the mighty.

20 He takes away the speech of trusted men, and takes away the understanding of the aged.

21 He pours contempt upon princes, and weakens the strength of the mighty.

22 He uncovers mysteries in the dark, and brings gloomy things into the light.

23 He increases the nations, and destroys them: he enlarges the nations, and shrinks them again.

24 He takes away understanding from the leaders of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no path.

25 They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.