1Then Job answered:

2“Without a doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.

3I also have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these?

4I am a laughingstock to my friends,
I, who called on God and whom he answered –
a righteous and blameless man
is a laughingstock!

5For calamity, there is derision
(according to the ideas of the fortunate ) –
a fate for those whose feet slip!

6But the tents of robbers are peaceful,
and those who provoke God are confident –
who carry their god in their hands.

Knowledge of God’s Wisdom

7“But now, ask the animals and they will teach you,
or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.

8Or speak to the earth and it will teach you,
or let the fish of the sea declare to you.

9Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this,

10in whose hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all the human race.

11Does not the ear test words,
as the tongue tastes food?

12Is not wisdom found among the aged?
Does not long life bring understanding?

13“With God are wisdom and power;
counsel and understanding are his.

14If he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt;
if he imprisons a person, there is no escape.

15If he holds back the waters, then they dry up;
if he releases them, they destroy the land.

16With him are strength and prudence;
both the one who goes astray
and the one who misleads are his.

17He leads counselors away stripped
and makes judges into fools.

18He loosens the bonds of kings
and binds a loincloth around their waist.

19He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows the potentates.

20He deprives the trusted advisers of speech
and takes away the discernment of elders.

21He pours contempt on noblemen
and disarms the powerful.

22He reveals the deep things of darkness,
and brings deep shadows into the light.

23He makes nations great, and destroys them;
he extends the boundaries of nations
and disperses them.

24He deprives the leaders of the earth
of their understanding;
he makes them wander
in a trackless desert waste.

25They grope about in darkness without light;
he makes them stagger like drunkards.