1: Then Job answered, 2: "No doubt, but you are the people, And wisdom shall die with you. 3: But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yes, who doesn't know such things as these? 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. 5: In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune, It is ready for them whose foot slips. 6: The tents of robbers prosper, Those who provoke God are secure; Who carry their God in their hands. 7: "But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; The birds of the sky, and they shall tell you. 8: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you; The fish of the sea shall declare to you. 9: Who doesn't know that in all these, The hand of Yahweh has done this, 10: In whose hand is the life of every living thing, The breath of all mankind? 11: Doesn't the ear try words, Even as the palate tastes its food? 12: With aged men is wisdom, In length of days understanding. 13: "With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding. 14: Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again; He imprisons a man, and there can be no release. 15: Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth. 16: With him is strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his. 17: He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools. 18: He loosens the bond of kings, He binds their loins with a belt. 19: He leads priests away stripped, And overthrows the mighty. 20: He removes the speech of those who are trusted, And takes away the understanding of the elders. 21: He pours contempt on princes, And loosens the belt of the strong. 22: He uncovers deep things out of darkness, And brings out to light the shadow of death. 23: He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive. 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. 25: They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
