12:1  Then Job answered,

12:2  "No doubt, but you are the people, And wisdom shall die with you.

12:3  But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yes, who doesn't know such things as these?

12:4  I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.

12:5  In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune, It is ready for them whose foot slips.

12:6  The tents of robbers prosper, Those who provoke God are secure; Who carry their God in their hands.

12:7  "But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; The birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.

12:8  Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you; The fish of the sea shall declare to you.

12:9  Who doesn't know that in all these, The hand of Yahweh has done this,

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

12:11  Doesn't the ear try words, Even as the palate tastes its food?

12:12  With aged men is wisdom, In length of days understanding.

12:13  "With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.

12:14  Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again; He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

12:15  Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

12:16  With him is strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his.

12:17  He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.

12:18  He loosens the bond of kings, He binds their loins with a belt.

12:19  He leads priests away stripped, And overthrows the mighty.

12:20  He removes the speech of those who are trusted, And takes away the understanding of the elders.

12:21  He pours contempt on princes, And loosens the belt of the strong.

12:22  He uncovers deep things out of darkness, And brings out to light the shadow of death.

12:23  He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.

12:24  He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, And causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

12:25  They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.