Job 12  Modern English Version

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 does not know such things as these?

⁴ “I am a laughingstock to my neighbor,
    who calls upon God, and He answers him;
    the righteous, upright man is a laughingstock.
⁵ He whose foot is unsteady
    is despised in the thoughts of him who is at ease.
⁶ The tents of robbers are at peace,
    and those who provoke God are secure,
    into whose hand they bring their own god.

⁷ “But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
    and the birds of the air, and let them tell you;
⁸ or speak to the earth, let it teach you;
    and let the fish of the sea declare to you.
⁹ Who among all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this,
¹⁰ in whose hand is the soul of every living thing
    and the breath of all mankind?
¹¹ Does not the ear test words
    and the mouth taste its food?
¹² Wisdom is with the elderly,
    and understanding comes with long life.

¹³ “With Him are wisdom and strength;
    He has counsel and understanding.
¹⁴ Surely, He tears down, and it cannot be built again;
    He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
¹⁵ Surely, He withholds the waters, and they dry up;
    also He sends them out, and they overthrow the earth.
¹⁶ With Him are strength and wisdom.
    The deceived and the deceiver are His.
¹⁷ He leads counselors away stripped
    and makes fools of judges.
¹⁸ He has loosened the bonds imposed by kings
    and bound their waist with a belt.
¹⁹ He leads away priests stripped
    and overthrows the mighty.
²⁰ He removes speech from the trusted ones
    and takes away the understanding of the aged.
²¹ He pours contempt upon princes
    and loosens the belt of the mighty.
²² He uncovers deep things out of darkness
    and brings the shadow of death to light.
²³ He increases the nations and destroys them;
    He enlarges the nations and guides them.
²⁴ He takes away the understanding of 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,
    and He makes them to stagger like a drunk man.