Job 12
New International Version - Job 12 << | >> 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142 12:1 Then Job replied: 12:2 'Doubtless you are the people, and wisdom will die with you! 12:3 But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things? 12:4 'I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called upon God and he answered- a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless! 12:5 Men at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping. 12:6 The tents of marauders are undisturbed, and those who provoke God are secure-those who carry their god in their hands. 12:7 'But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; 12:8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. 12:9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? 12:10 In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. 12:11 Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food? 12:12 Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding? 12:13 'To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his. 12:14 What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man he imprisons cannot be released. 12:15 If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land. 12:16 To him belong strength and victory; both deceived and deceiver are his. 12:17 He leads counselors away stripped and makes fools of judges. 12:18 He takes off the shackles put on by kings and ties a loincloth around their waist. 12:19 He leads priests away stripped and overthrows men long established. 12:20 He silences the lips of trusted advisers and takes away the discernment of elders. 12:21 He pours contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty. 12:22 He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light. 12:23 He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them. 12:24 He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he sends them wandering through a trackless waste. 12:25 They grope in darkness with no light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.