| 1 Then Job answered: | |
| 2 No doubt you are the people’s voice; when you die, wisdom dies with you! | |
| 3 But I have a mind as well as you, I know all that you have said. | |
| 4 To my friends I am a laughingstock when I call on God who does not answer; the just and blameless man is made fun of. | |
| 5 “Contempt for the unfortunate,” so think the prosperous, “a blow for those who are staggering.” | |
| 6 Yet the robbers’ tents are undisturbed, those who provoke God are in peace, those who make a god of their strength. | |
| 7 But ask the beasts to teach you, the birds of the air to tell you, | |
| 8 the plants of the earth to instruct you, the fish of the sea to inform you. | |
| 9 Who among them does not understand that behind all this is God’s hand? | |
| 10 He holds the life of every creature and the breath of humans. | |
| 11 The ear surely can test the words as the tongue tastes food; | |
| 12 wisdom is found in the old, and understanding in great age; | |
| 13 in God however is wisdom and power; his are counsel and understanding. | |
| 14 What he tears down, none can rebuild; the one he imprisons, none can release. | |
| 15 If he withholds water, there is drought; if he lets it loose, there is flood. | |
| 16 In him are strength and perception; deceived and deceiver are in his power. | |
| 17 He leads counselors away stripped and makes fools of judges. | |
| 18 He loosens the belt of kings and ties a loincloth about their waist. | |
| 19 He leads priests away, barefoot, and overthrows those in power. | |
| 20 He compels advisers to keep silent, and strips elders of their discernment. | |
| 21 He puts princes to shame; he unties the girdle of the strong. | |
| 22 (He uncovers the gloomy recesses and brings the deep darkness to light.) | |
| 23 He makes a nation rise and fall, a people to grow and to dwindle. | |
| 24 He deprives leaders of their judgment, leaving them to roam in a trackless waste. | |
| 25 Without light, they grope in the dark and stagger like drunkards. | |
