Job 12

1Job answered and said

2Indeed, you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.

3I too have a mind like yours; I do not fall short of you—who does not know such things as these?

4I am a laughingstock to my friend—I call to God, and he answered me; the righteous blameless is a laughingstock.

5The carefree hold the lamp in contempt within their thoughts; it stands ready for a slipping foot.

6The dwellings of plunderers rest secure, and those who trouble God dwell safely—who carry God in their hands.

7But ask the animals, please, and they will teach you; the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.

8Or converse with the earth, and it will instruct you; the fish of the sea will recount to you.

9Who does not know—in all these—that the hand of Yahweh has done this?

10In whose hand is the life of all that lives and the breath of all mankind.

11Doesn't the ear test words, as the palate tastes its food?

12Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding with length of days.

13With him are wisdom and might; counsel and understanding are his.

14Behold, he demolishes, and it is not rebuilt; he imprisons a man, and he is not released.

15Behold, he restrains the waters, and they dry up; he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

16With him is strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver belong to him.

17He leads counselors away stripped and makes judges fools.

18He unties the bond of kings and binds a girdle around their loins.

19He leads plundered priests away and overthrows the mighty.

20He deprives the trusted of speech and the elders of understanding.

21He pours contempt on nobles, and loosens the belt of the mighty.

22He reveals deep things from darkness, and brings the shadow of death to light.

23He multiplies nations and destroys them; he spreads nations abroad and leads them away.

24He deprives the leaders of the earth's peoples of understanding and leads them astray in a trackless waste.

25They feel their way in darkness without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunkard.