Job 12

CHAPTER 12

Job Answers

¹Then Job answered and said,

²“Truly then ^ayou are the people,

And with you wisdom will die!

³“But ^aI have a heart of wisdom as well as you;

I do not fall short of you.

And ¹who does not know such things as these?

⁴“I am a ^alaughingstock to ¹my friends,

The one who called on God and He answered him;

The righteous and ^bblameless man is a laughingstock.

⁵“¹As for upheaval, there is only contempt by the one who acts at ease,

But it is prepared for those whose feet slip.

⁶“The ^atents of the destroyers are complacent,

And those who provoke God ^bare secure,

¹Whom God brings ^cinto their power.

⁷“But now ask the beasts, and let them instruct you;

And the birds of the sky, and let them tell you.

⁸“Or muse to the earth, and let it instruct you;

And let the fish of the sea recount it to you.

⁹“Who among all these does not know

That ^athe hand of Yahweh has done this,

^10aIn whose hand is the life of every living thing,

And ^bthe breath of all the flesh of man?

¹¹“Does not ^athe ear test words,

As the palate ¹tastes its food?

¹²“Wisdom is with ^aaged men,

With ¹long life is discernment.

Job Speaks of God’s Strength

¹³“With Him are ^awisdom and ^bmight;

To Him belong counsel and ^cdiscernment.

¹⁴“Behold, He ^apulls down, and it cannot be rebuilt;

He ^bcloses a man in, and it cannot be opened.

¹⁵“Behold, He ^arestrains the waters, and they dry up;

And He ^bsends them out, and they overturn the earth.

¹⁶“With Him are strength and sound wisdom;

The ^amisled and the misleader belong to Him.

¹⁷“He makes ^acounselors walk ¹barefoot

And makes fools of ^bjudges.

¹⁸“He ^aopens the ¹bond of kings

And binds their loins with a belt.

¹⁹“He makes priests walk ¹barefoot

And subverts ^athe enduring ones.

²⁰“He removes speech from the faithful

And ^atakes away the discerning taste of the elders.

²¹“He ^apours contempt on nobles

And ^bloosens the belt of the strong.

²²“He ^areveals mysteries from the darkness

And brings out the shadows of death into light.

²³“He ^amakes the nations great, then makes them perish;

He ¹enlarges the nations, then leads them away.

²⁴“He ^aremoves the heart of wisdom from the heads of the earth’s people

And makes them wander in a pathless ¹waste.

²⁵“They ^agrope in darkness with no light,

And He makes them ^bwander about like a drunken man.