1 T hen Job responded,

2 “ Truly then you are the people, And with you wisdom will die!

3 “ But I have intelligence as well as you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these?

4 “ I am a joke to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The just and blameless man is a joke.

5 “ He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt, As prepared for those whose feet slip.

6 “ The tents of the destroyers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure, Whom God brings into 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 the hand of the Lord has done this,

10 I n whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?

11 “ Does not the ear test words, As the palate tastes its food?

12 “ Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is understanding. Job Speaks of the Power of God

13 “ With Him are wisdom and might; To Him belong counsel and understanding.

14 “ Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt; He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

15 “ Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.

16 “ With Him are strength and sound wisdom, The misled and the misleader belong to Him.

17 “ He makes counselors walk barefoot And makes fools of judges.

18 “ He loosens the bond of kings And binds their loins with a girdle.

19 “ He makes priests walk barefoot And overthrows the secure ones.

20 “ He deprives the trusted ones of speech And takes away the discernment of the elders.

21 “ He pours contempt on nobles And loosens the belt of the strong.

22 “ He reveals mysteries from the darkness And brings the deep darkness into light.

23 “ He makes the nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away.

24 “ He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth’s people And makes them wander in a pathless waste.

25 “ They grope in darkness with no light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.