Job - Chapter 12 | English Standard Version

  • 1. Then Job answered and said:
  • 2. "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
  • 3. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
  • 4. I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called to God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
  • 5. In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.
  • 6. The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.
  • 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, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
  • 9. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
  • 10. In his 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 food?
  • 12. Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.
  • 13. "With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding.
  • 14. If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open.
  • 15. If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
  • 16. With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.
  • 17. He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools.
  • 18. He looses 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 and takes away the discernment of the elders.
  • 21. He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.
  • 22. He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light.
  • 23. He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
  • 24. He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
  • 25. They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.
أعلى