Job 12:1-25
12 And Job proceeded to answer and say:
2 “For a fact YOU men are the people,And with YOU wisdom will die out!+
3 I too have a heart+ as well as YOU.I am not inferior to YOU,*+And with whom are there not things like these?
4 [One who is] a laughingstock to his fellowman I* become,+One calling to God* that he should answer him.+A laughingstock is the righteous, unblamable one.
5 In thought, the carefree one has contempt for extinction itself;+It is made ready for those of wobbling feet.+
6 The tents of the despoilers are unworried,+And the ones enraging God* have the safetyBelonging to one who has brought a god* in his hand.+
7 However, ask, please, the domestic animals, and they will instruct you;+Also the winged creatures of the heavens, and they will tell you.+
8 Or show your concern to the earth,* and it will instruct you;+And the fishes of the sea+ will declare it to you.
9 Who among all these does not well knowThat the hand of Jehovah* itself has done this,+
10 In whose hand is the soul+ of everyone aliveAnd the spirit* of all flesh of man?*+
11 Does not the ear itself test out words+As the palate+ tastes food?
12 Is there not wisdom among the aged+And understanding [in] length of days?*
13 With him there are wisdom and mightiness;+He has counsel and understanding.+
14 Look! He tears down, that there may be no building up;+He makes it shut to man, that it may not be opened up.+
15 Look! He puts a restraint upon the waters and they dry up;+And he sends them, and they change the earth.+
16 With him there are strength and practical wisdom;+To him belong the one making a mistake and the one leading astray;+
17 He is making counselors go barefoot,*+And he makes judges themselves go crazy.
18 The bonds* of kings he actually loosens,+And he binds a belt upon their hips.
19 He is making priests walk barefoot,+And permanently seated ones he subverts;*+
20 He is removing speech* from the faithful ones,And the sensibleness of old men he takes away;
21 He is pouring out contempt upon nobles,+And the girdle of powerful ones he actually weakens;
22 He is uncovering deep things from the darkness,+And he brings forth to the light deep shadow;
23 Making the nations grow great, that he may destroy them;+Spreading out the nations, that he may lead them away;
24 Taking away the heart of the head ones of the people of the land,That he may make them wander about in an empty place,+ where there is no way.
25 They grope in darkness,+ where there is no light,That he may make them wander about like a drunken man.+
Footnotes
^ Lit., “I am not falling behind you.”
^ “I,” MVg; LXXSy, “he.”
^ “To God.” Heb., le·ʼElohʹah.
^ “God.” Heb., ʼEl.
^ “A god.” Heb., ʼelohʹah.
^ Or, “Or speak thoughtfully to the earth.” By a correction, “Or the reptiles [or, wild beasts] of the earth.”
^ “Jehovah,” MLXXSyVg; T(Aram.), Yai.
^ “And the spirit (breath) of.” Heb., weruʹach; Gr., pneuʹma; Syr., weru·chaʼ; Lat., spiʹri·tus.
^ “Man.” Heb., ʼish.
^ Or, “and does not length of days mean understanding?”
^ “The One leading counselors captive,” LXX; Vg, “he leads counselors on to a foolish end.”
^ By a change of vowel pointing. Lit., “discipline.”
^ Or, “and overflowing rivers he causes to run dry.”
^ Lit., “lip.”
