Job - Chapter 12 | American Standard Version

  • 1. Then Job answered and said,
  • 2. No doubt but ye are the people, And wisdom shall die with you.
  • 3. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yea, who knoweth not such things as these?
  • 4. I am as one that is a laughing-stock to his neighbor, I who called upon God, and he answered: The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock.
  • 5. In the thought of him that is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; It is ready for them whose foot slippeth.
  • 6. The tents of robbers prosper, And they that provoke God are secure; Into whose hand God bringeth {cf15i abundantly}.
  • 7. But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; And the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee:
  • 8. Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
  • 9. Who knoweth not in all these, That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this,
  • 10. In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?
  • 11. Doth not the ear try words, Even as the palate tasteth its food?
  • 12. With aged men is wisdom, And in length of days understanding.
  • 13. With {cf15i God} is wisdom and might; He hath counsel and understanding.
  • 14. Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again; He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
  • 15. Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
  • 16. With him is strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his.
  • 17. He leadeth counsellors away stripped, And judges maketh he fools.
  • 18. He looseth the bond of kings, And he bindeth their loins with a girdle.
  • 19. He leadeth priests away stripped, And overthroweth the mighty.
  • 20. He removeth the speech of the trusty, And taketh away the understanding of the elders.
  • 21. He poureth contempt upon princes, And looseth the belt of the strong.
  • 22. He uncovereth deep things out of darkness, And bringeth out to light the shadow of death.
  • 23. He increaseth the nations, and he destroyeth them: He enlargeth the nations, and he leadeth them captive.
  • 24. He taketh away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, And causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
  • 25. They grope in the dark without light; And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.
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