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