CHAPTER 12
1And Job spoke up and he said:
2Oh yeovs, you are the people,
and with you wisdom will die!
3But I, too, have a mind like you, I am no less than you,
and who does not know such things?
4A laughingstock to his friend I am,
who calls to his God and is answered,
a laughingstock of the blameless just man.
5 The smug man’s thought scorns disaster
readied for those who stumble.
6 The tents of despoilers are tranquil,
provokers of El are secure,
whom God has led by the hand.
7 Yet ask of the beasts, they will teach you,
the fowl of the heavens will tell you,
8or speak to the earth, it will teach you,
the fish of the sea will inform you.
9Who has not known in all these
that the LORD’s hand has done this?
10 In Whose hand is the breath of each living thing,
and the spirit of all human flesh.
11Does not the ear make out words,
the palate taste food?
12 In the aged is wisdom,
and in length of days understanding.
13With Him are wisdom and strength,
He possesses counsel and understanding.
14Why, He destroys and there is no rebuilding,
closes in on a man, leaves no opening.
15Why, He holds back the waters and they dry up,
sends them forth and they turn the earth over.
16With Him is power and prudence,
17He leads councillors astray
and judges He drives to madness.
18He undoes the sash of kings
and binds a loincloth round their waist.
19He leads priests astray,
the mighty He misleads.
20He takes away speech from the trustworthy,
and sense from the elders He takes,
21He pours forth scorn on princes,
and the belt of the nobles He slackens,
22 lays bare depths from the darkness
and brings out to light death’s shadow,
23raises nations high and destroys them,
flattens nations and leads them away,
24 stuns the minds of the people’s leaders,
makes them wander in trackless wastes—
25they grope in darkness without light,