12:1   Then Job responded,

12:2  "Truly then you consider yourself the people, And with you wisdom will die!

12:3  "But I have intelligence as well as you; I do not consider myself inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these?

12:4  "I have become a joke to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The just and blameless man I consider a joke.

12:5  "He who feels at ease holds calamity in contempt, As prepared for those whose feet slip.

12:6  "The tents of the destroyers prosper, And those who provoke God feel secure, Whom God brings into their power.

12:7  "But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.

12:8  "Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you.

12:9  "Who among all these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this,

12:10  In whose hand lies the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?

12:11  "Does not the ear test words, As the palate tastes its food?

12:12  "Wisdom resides with aged men, With long life comes understanding.

12:13  "With Him reside wisdom and might; To Him belong counsel and understanding.

12:14  "Behold, He tears down, and no one can rebuild; He imprisons a man, and cannot expect freedom.

12:15  "Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.

12:16  "With Him reside strength and sound wisdom, The misled and the misleader belong to Him.

12:17  "He makes counselors walk barefoot And makes fools of judges.

12:18  "He loosens the bond of kings And binds their loins with a girdle.

12:19  "He makes priests walk barefoot And overthrows the secure ones.

12:20   "He deprives the trusted ones of speech And takes away the discernment of the elders.

12:21  "He pours contempt on nobles And loosens the belt of the strong.

12:22  "He reveals mysteries from the darkness And brings the deep darkness into light.

12:23  "He makes the nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away.

12:24  "He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth's people And makes them wander in a pathless waste.

12:25  "They grope in darkness with no light, And He makes them