[1] Then Job answered,
[2] “No doubt, but you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
[3] But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who doesn’t know such things as these?
[4] I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.
[5] In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.
[6] The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands.
[7] “But ask the animals, now, and they will teach you; the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
[8] Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you. The fish of the sea will declare to you.
[9] Who doesn’t know that in all these, The LORD’s hand has done this,
[10] in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?
[11] Doesn’t the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?
[12] With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.
[13] “With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.
[14] Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
[15] Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
[16] With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.
[17] He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.
[18] He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a belt.
[19] He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.
[20] He removes the speech of those who are trusted, and takes away the understanding of the elders.
[21] He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the strong.
[22] He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.
[23] He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.
[24] He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
[25] They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.