Job 12 New American Standard Bible

Job Chides His Accusers

12 Then Job responded,

²“Truly then ^(A)you are the people,
And with you wisdom will die!
³But ^(B)I have intelligence as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
And ^[a]who does not know such things as these?
⁴I am a ^(C)joke to ^[b]my friends,
The one who called on God and He answered him;
The just and ^(D)blameless man is a joke.
⁵^[c]He who is at ease holds disaster in contempt,
As prepared for those whose feet slip.
⁶The ^(E)tents of the destroyers prosper,
And those who provoke God ^(F)are secure,
^[d]Whom God brings ^(G)into their power.

⁷“But just ask the animals, and have them teach you;
And the birds of the sky, and have them tell you.
⁸Or speak to the earth, and have it teach you;
And have the fish of the sea tell you.
⁹Who among all these does not know
That ^(H)the hand of the Lord has done this,
¹⁰^(I)In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And ^(J)the breath of all mankind?
¹¹Does ^(K)the ear not put words to the test,
As the palate ^[e]tastes its food?
¹²Wisdom is with the ^(L)aged,
And with ^[f]long life comes understanding.

Job Speaks of the Power of God

¹³“^(M)Wisdom and ^(N)might are with Him;
Advice and ^(O)understanding belong to Him.
¹⁴Behold, He ^(P)tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;
He ^[g]^(Q)imprisons a person, and ^[h]there is no release.
¹⁵Behold, He ^(R)restrains the waters, and they dry up;
And He ^(S)sends them out, and they ^[i]inundate the earth.
¹⁶Strength and sound wisdom are with Him.
One who ^(T)goes astray and one who leads astray belong to Him.
¹⁷He makes ^(U)advisers walk ^[j]barefoot
And makes fools of ^(V)judges.
¹⁸He ^(W)undoes the binding of kings,
And ties a loincloth around their waist.
¹⁹He makes priests walk ^[k]barefoot,
And overthrows ^(X)the secure ones.
²⁰He deprives the trusted ones of speech,
And ^(Y)takes away the discernment of the elders.
²¹He ^(Z)pours contempt on nobles,
And ^(AA)loosens the belt of the strong.
²²He ^(AB)reveals mysteries from the darkness,
And brings the deep darkness into light.
²³He ^(AC)makes the nations great, then destroys them;
He ^[l]enlarges the nations, then leads them away.
²⁴He ^(AD)deprives the leaders of the earth’s people of ^[m]intelligence
And makes them wander in a pathless wasteland.
²⁵They ^(AE)grope in darkness with no light,
And He makes them ^(AF)stagger like a drunken person.