Job 12 — Legacy Standard Bible

Job Answers

12Then Job answered and said,

²“Truly then ^ayou are the people,And with you wisdom will die!³“But ^aI have a heart of wisdom as well as you;I do not fall short of you.And ¹who does not know such things as these?⁴“I am a ^alaughingstock to ¹my friends,The one who called on God and He answered him;The righteous and ^bblameless man is a laughingstock.⁵“¹As for upheaval, there is only contempt by the one who acts at ease,But it is prepared for those whose feet slip.⁶“The ^atents of the destroyers are complacent,And those who provoke God ^bare secure,¹Whom God brings ^cinto their power.⁷“But now ask the beasts, and let them instruct you;And the birds of the sky, and let them tell you.⁸“Or muse to the earth, and let it instruct you;And let the fish of the sea recount it to you.⁹“Who among all these does not knowThat ^athe hand of Yahweh has done this,¹⁰^aIn whose hand is the life of every living thing,And ^bthe breath of all the flesh of man?¹¹“Does not ^athe ear test words,As the palate ¹tastes its food?¹²“Wisdom is with ^aaged men,With ¹long life is discernment.

Job Speaks of God’s Strength

¹³“With Him are ^awisdom and ^bmight;To Him belong counsel and ^cdiscernment.¹⁴“Behold, He ^apulls down, and it cannot be rebuilt;He ^bcloses a man in, and it cannot be opened.¹⁵“Behold, He ^arestrains the waters, and they dry up;And He ^bsends them out, and they overturn the earth.¹⁶“With Him are strength and sound wisdom;The ^amisled and the misleader belong to Him.¹⁷“He makes ^acounselors walk ¹barefootAnd makes fools of ^bjudges.¹⁸“He ^aopens the ¹bond of kingsAnd binds their loins with a belt.¹⁹“He makes priests walk ¹barefootAnd subverts ^athe enduring ones.²⁰“He removes speech from the faithfulAnd ^atakes away the discerning taste of the elders.²¹“He ^apours contempt on noblesAnd ^bloosens the belt of the strong.²²“He ^areveals mysteries from the darknessAnd brings out the shadows of death into light.²³“He ^amakes the nations great, then makes them perish;He ¹enlarges the nations, then leads them away.²⁴“He ^aremoves the heart of wisdom from the heads of the earth’s peopleAnd makes them wander in a pathless ¹waste.²⁵“They ^agrope in darkness with no light,And He makes them ^bwander about like a drunken man.