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.