Job Chapter 12

12 : 1 Then Job answered and said,

12 : 2 No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.

12 : 3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who does not know such things as these?

12 : 4 I am as a man who is a laughing-stock to his neighbor. I who called upon God, and he answered. The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock.

12 : 5 In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for calamity. It is ready for those whose foot slips.

12 : 6 The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure. Into whose hand God brings abundantly.

12 : 7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee, and the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee.

12 : 8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee, and the fishes of the sea shall declare to thee.

12 : 9 Who does not know in all these, that the hand of Jehovah has wrought this,

12 : 10 in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?

12 : 11 Does not the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?

12 : 12 With aged men is wisdom, and in length of days understanding.

12 : 13 With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.

12 : 14 Behold, he breaks down, and it cannot be built again. He shuts up a man, and there can be no opening.

12 : 15 Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

12 : 16 With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.

12 : 17 He leads counselors away stripped, and he makes judges fools.

12 : 18 He loosens the bond of kings, and he binds their loins with a belt.

12 : 19 He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.

12 : 20 He removes the speech of the trustworthy, and takes away the understanding of the elders.

12 : 21 He pours contempt upon rulers, and weakens the strength of the strong.

12 : 22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.

12 : 23 He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.

12 : 24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

12 : 25 They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them to stagger like a drunken man.