Job 12 - ESV Bible - Then Job answered and said: "No doubt you are the...

1 Then Job answered and said:

2 "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.

3 But I have ¹understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know ²such things as these?

4 I am ³a laughingstock to my friends; I, who ⁴called to God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.

5 In the thought of one who is ⁵at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.

6 ⁶The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.^a

7 "But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;

8 or the bushes of the earth,^b and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

9 Who among all these does not know that ⁷the hand of the LORD has done this?

10 In ⁸his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

11 Does not ⁹the ear test words as the palate tastes food?

12 Wisdom is with ¹⁰the aged, and understanding in length of days.

13 ¹¹"With God^c are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding.

14 If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he ¹²shuts a man in, none can open.

15 If he ¹³withholds the waters, they dry up; if he ¹⁴sends them out, they overwhelm the land.

16 With him are strength and ¹⁵sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.

17 He leads ¹⁶counselors away stripped, and ¹⁷judges he makes fools.

18 He ¹⁸looses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips.

19 He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.

20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted ¹⁹and takes away the discernment of the elders.

21 He ²⁰pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.

22 He ²¹uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings ²²deep darkness to light.

23 He ²³makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and ²⁴leads them away.

24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and ²⁵makes them wander in a pathless waste.

25 They ²⁶grope in the dark without light, and he makes them ²⁷stagger like a drunken man.

Job 12 ESV