Job - Chapter 12 - New International Version
- Then Job replied:
- "Doubtless you are the only people who matter, and wisdom will die with you!
- But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things?
- "I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God and he answered — a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
- Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
- The tents of marauders are undisturbed, and those who provoke God are secure — those God has in his hand. [^
- ]
- "But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
- or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.
- Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
- In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.
- Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food?
- Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?
- "To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.
- What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; those he imprisons cannot be released.
- If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.
- To him belong strength and insight; both deceived and deceiver are his.
- He leads rulers away stripped and makes fools of judges.
- He takes off the shackles put on by kings and ties a loincloth "around their waist.
- He leads priests away stripped and overthrows officials long established.
- He silences the lips of trusted advisers and takes away the discernment of elders.
- He pours contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.
- He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light.
- He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them.
- He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he makes them wander in a trackless waste.
- They grope in darkness with no light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.