Job 12

Chapter 12

Job Chides His Accusers

¹Then Job ¹responded,

²“Truly then ^ayou are the people,

And with you wisdom will die!

³“But ^aI have intelligence as well as you;

I am not inferior to you.

And ¹who does not know such things as these?

⁴“I am a ^ajoke to ¹my friends,

The one who called on God and He answered him;

The just and ^bblameless man is a joke.

⁵“¹He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt,

As prepared for those whose feet slip.

⁶“The ^atents of the destroyers prosper,

And those who provoke God ^bare secure,

¹Whom God brings ^cinto their power.

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

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

⁸“Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;

And let the fish of the sea declare to you.

⁹“Who among all these does not know

That ^athe hand of the Lord has done this,

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

And ^bthe breath of all mankind?

¹¹“Does not ^athe ear test words,

As the palate ¹tastes its food?

¹²“Wisdom is with ^aaged men,

With ¹long life is understanding.

Job Speaks of the Power of God

¹³“With Him are ^awisdom and might;

To Him belong counsel and ^bunderstanding.

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

He ^1bimprisons a man, and ²there can be no release.

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

And He ^bsends them out, and they ¹inundate 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 ^aloosens the ¹bond of kings

And binds their loins with a girdle.

¹⁹“He makes priests walk ¹barefoot

And overthrows ^athe secure ones.

²⁰“He deprives the trusted ones of speech

And ^atakes away the discernment 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 the deep darkness into light.

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

He ¹enlarges the nations, then leads them away.

²⁴“He ^adeprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth’s people

And makes them wander in a pathless waste.

²⁵“They ^agrope in darkness with no light,

And He makes them ^bstagger like a drunken man.