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