Job 12

  1. Verse 1. Then Job answered:
  2. Verse 2. “Truly then you are the people with whom wisdom itself will die!
  3. Verse 3. But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
  4. Verse 4. I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.
  5. Verse 5. The one at ease scorns misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
  6. Verse 6. The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure— those who carry their god in their hands.
  7. Verse 7. But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you.
  8. Verse 8. Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; let the fish of the sea inform you.
  9. Verse 9. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
  10. Verse 10. The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.
  11. Verse 11. Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food?
  12. Verse 12. Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.
  13. Verse 13. Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His.
  14. Verse 14. What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.
  15. Verse 15. If He holds back the waters, they dry up, and if He releases them, they overwhelm the land.
  16. Verse 16. True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.
  17. Verse 17. He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools of judges.
  18. Verse 18. He loosens the bonds placed by kings and fastens a belt around their waists.
  19. Verse 19. He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows the established.
  20. Verse 20. He deprives the trusted of speech and takes away the discernment of elders.
  21. Verse 21. He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.
  22. Verse 22. He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into light.
  23. Verse 23. He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, then disperses them.
  24. Verse 24. He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.
  25. Verse 25. They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards.