12:1 Then Job answered,
12:2 No doubt, but you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.
12:3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who doesnt know such things as these?
12:4 I 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.
12:5 In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.
12:6 The 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.
12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you. The fish of the sea shall declare to you.
12:9 Who doesnt know that in all these, the hand of Yahweh has done this,
12:10 in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?
12:11 Doesnt the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?
12:12 With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.
12:13 With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.
12:14 Behold, he breaks down, and it cant be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
12:15 Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
12:16 With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.
12:17 He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.
12:18 He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a belt.
12:19 He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.
12:20 He removes the speech of those who are trusted, and takes away the understanding of the elders.
12:21 He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the strong.
12:22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.
12:23 He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.
12:24 He 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.
12:25 They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.