Job 12

^{Job 12:1} Then Job answered:

^{Job 12:2} “Truly then you are the people with whom wisdom itself will die!

^{Job 12:3} But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?

^{Job 12:4} I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.

^{Job 12:5} The one at ease scorns misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

^{Job 12:6} The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure— those who carry their god in their hands.

^{Job 12:7} But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you.

^{Job 12:8} Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; let the fish of the sea inform you.

^{Job 12:9} Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?

^{Job 12:10} The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.

^{Job 12:11} Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food?

^{Job 12:12} Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.

^{Job 12:13} Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His.

^{Job 12:14} What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.

^{Job 12:15} If He holds back the waters, they dry up, and if He releases them, they overwhelm the land.

^{Job 12:16} True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.

^{Job 12:17} He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools of judges.

^{Job 12:18} He loosens the bonds placed by kings and fastens a belt around their waists.

^{Job 12:19} He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows the established.

^{Job 12:20} He deprives the trusted of speech and takes away the discernment of elders.

^{Job 12:21} He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.

^{Job 12:22} He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into light.

^{Job 12:23} He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, then disperses them.

^{Job 12:24} He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

^{Job 12:25} They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards.