Job 12

Job’s Fourth Speech

¹Then Job answered and said,[#Hebrew “And”]

²“Truly indeed you are the people,[#Plural]

and wisdom will die with you.

³I also have insight like you;[#Literally “Also for me heart”; #Plural]

I am not more inferior than you.

And who does not know things like these?

⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends:[#Hebrew “to his friends”]

‘He calls on God, and he answers him.’

A righteous, blameless man is a laughingstock.

⁵Those at ease have contempt for the thought of disaster,[#Literally “Contempt is according to the thought of the complacent”; #Literally “a torch”]

but it is ready for those unstable of foot.

⁶The tents of the destroyers are at peace,

and there is security for those who provoke God,

for those whom God brings into his hand.

⁷“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,[#Hebrew “And”; #Or “ask now,” or “please ask”]

and the birds of the heaven, and they will tell you;

⁸or ask the earth, and it will teach you,

and the fishes of the sea will declare to you.

⁹Who among all of these does not know

that Yahweh’s hand has done this?

¹⁰In whose hand is the life of all living things

and the breath of every human being?

¹¹Does not the ear test words

and the palate taste food for itself?

¹²Wisdom is with the aged,

and understanding is in length of days.

¹³“With him are wisdom and powerful deeds,

and to him belong counsel and understanding.

¹⁴If he tears down, then it will not be rebuilt;[#Hebrew “and”]

if he shuts a man in, then he cannot be freed.

¹⁵Look, if he withholds the water, then they dry up;[#Or “waters”; #Hebrew “and”]

and if he sends them out, then they overwhelm the land.

¹⁶“Strength and sound wisdom are with him;

the deceived and the deceiver are his.

¹⁷He leads counselors away stripped,

and he makes fools of judges.

¹⁸He loosens the fetters of kings,

and he binds a loincloth on their loins.

¹⁹He leads priests away stripped,

and he overthrows the members of ancient families.

²⁰He deprives the trustworthy of speech,

and he takes away the discretion of elders.

²¹He pours contempt on noblemen,

and he loosens the girdle of the mighty.

²²“He uncovers mysteries out of darkness,

and he brings deep shadow to the light.

²³He makes the nations great, then he destroys them;[#Hebrew “and”]

he expands the nations, then he guides them.

²⁴He strips away the insight of the heads of the earth’s people,

and he makes them wander in a pathless wasteland.

²⁵They grope in the dark without light,[#Literally “and not”]

and he makes them stagger like a drunkard.