RSV Job 12 Chapter
12:1
Then Job answered:
12:2
'No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
12:3
But I have understanding as well as you;I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
12:4
I am a laughingstock to my friends;I, who called upon God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
12:5
In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;it is ready for those whose feet slip.
12:6
The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.
12:7
'But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
12:8
or the plants of the earth, and they will teach you;and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
12:9
Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
12:10
In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.
12:11
Does not the ear try words as the palate tastes food?
12:12
Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.
12:13
'With God are wisdom and might;he has counsel and understanding.
12:14
If he tears down, none can rebuild;if he shuts a man in, none can open.
12:15
If he withholds the waters, they dry up;if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
12:16
With him are strength and wisdom;the deceived and the deceiver are his.
12:17
He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools.
12:18
He looses the bonds of kings, and binds a waistcloth on their loins.
12:19
He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.
12:20
He deprives of speech those who are trusted, and takes away the discernment of the elders.
12:21
He pours contempt on princes, and looses the belt of the strong.
12:22
He uncovers the deeps out of darkness, and brings deep darkness to light.
12:23
He makes nations great, and he destroys them: he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
12:24
He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
12:25
They grope in the dark without light;and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.