1And Job answered and said,

2Truly ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you!

3I also have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you; and who knoweth not such things as these?

4I am to be one that is a derision to his friend, I who call upon ³¹God, and whom he will answer: a derision is the just upright [man].

5He that is ready to stumble with the foot is a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.

6The tents of desolators are in peace, and they that provoke ³²God are secure; into whose hand ³³God bringeth.

7But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowl of the heavens, and they shall tell thee;

8Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.

9Who knoweth not in all these, that the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this?

10In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the spirit of all flesh of man.

11Doth not the ear try words, as the palate tasteth food?

12With the aged is wisdom, and in length of days understanding.

13With him is wisdom and might; he hath counsel and understanding.

14Behold, he breaketh down, and it is not built again; he shutteth up a man, and there is no opening.

15Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; and he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.

16With him is strength and effectual knowledge; the deceived and the deceiver are his.

17He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and judges maketh he fools;

18He weakeneth the government of kings, and bindeth their loins with a fetter;

19He leadeth priests away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty;

20He depriveth of speech the trusty, and taketh away the judgment of the elders;

21He poureth contempt upon nobles, and slackeneth the girdle of the mighty;

22He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out into light the shadow of death;

23He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them; he spreadeth out the nations, and bringeth them in;

24He taketh away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a pathless waste.

25They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunkard.