Job 12

Job Replies: I Am a Laughingstock

¹²Then Job answered:

²“No doubt you are the people,

and wisdom will die with you.

³But I have understanding as well as you;

I am not inferior to you.

Who does not know such things as these?

⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends;

I, who called upon God and he answered me,

a just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock.^*

⁵Those at ease have contempt for misfortune,^f

but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.^*

⁶The tents of robbers are at peace,

and those who provoke God are secure,

who bring their god in their hands.^g*

⁷“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,

the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

⁸ask the plants of the earth,^h and they will teach you,

and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

⁹Who among all these does not know

that the hand of the Lord has done this?^*

¹⁰In his hand is the life of every living thing

and the breath of every human being.^*

¹¹Does not the ear test words

as the palate tastes food?^*

¹²Is wisdom with the aged

and understanding in length of days?^*

¹³“With Godⁱ are wisdom and strength;

he has counsel and understanding.^*

¹⁴If he tears down, no one can rebuild;

if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.^*

¹⁵If he withholds the waters, they dry up;

if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.^*

¹⁶With him are strength and wisdom;

the deceived and the deceiver are his.^*

¹⁷He leads counselors away stripped

and makes fools of judges.^*

¹⁸He looses the sash of kings

and binds a waistcloth on their loins.^*

¹⁹He leads priests away stripped

and overthrows the mighty.

²⁰He deprives of speech those who are trusted

and takes away the discernment of the elders.^*

²¹He pours contempt on princes

and looses the belt of the strong.^*

²²He uncovers deep things from the darkness

and brings deep darkness to light.^*

²³He makes nations great, then destroys them;

he enlarges nations, then leads them away.^*

²⁴He strips understanding from the leaders^j of the earth

and makes them wander in a pathless waste.^*

²⁵They grope in the dark without light;

he makes them stagger like a drunkard.^*