1: Then Job answered and said, 2: No doubt but ye are the people, And wisdom shall die with you. 3: But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yea, who knoweth not such things as these? 4: I am as one that is a laughing-stock to his neighbor, I who called upon God, and he answered: The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock. 5: In the thought of him that is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; It is ready for them whose foot slippeth. 6: The tents of robbers prosper, And they that provoke God are secure; Into whose hand God bringeth [abundantly]. 7: But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; And the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee: 8: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. 9: Who knoweth not in all these, That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this, 10: In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? 11: Doth not the ear try words, Even as the palate tasteth its food? 12: With aged men is wisdom, And in length of days understanding. 13: With [God] is wisdom and might; He hath counsel and understanding. 14: Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again; He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. 15: Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth. 16: With him is strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his. 17: He leadeth counsellors away stripped, And judges maketh he fools. 18: He looseth the bond of kings, And he bindeth their loins with a girdle. 19: He leadeth priests away stripped, And overthroweth the mighty. 20: He removeth the speech of the trusty, And taketh away the understanding of the elders. 21: He poureth contempt upon princes, And looseth the belt of the strong. 22: He uncovereth deep things out of darkness, And bringeth out to light the shadow of death. 23: He increaseth the nations, and he destroyeth them: He enlargeth the nations, and he leadeth them captive. 24: He taketh away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, And causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. 25: They grope in the dark without light; And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.
