2 “Truly then you are the people,And with you wisdom will die!
3 “But I have a heartof wisdomas well as you;I do not fallshortof you.And 12:3Lit with whom is there not like these? who does not know such things as these?
4 “I am a laughingstock to 12:4Lit his my friends,The one who called on God and He answered him;The righteousandblamelessmanis a laughingstock.
5 “ 12:5Lit Contempt for calamity is the thought of him who is at ease As for upheaval,there is onlycontempt by the one who acts at ease,Butit is prepared for those whose feet slip.
6 “The tents of the destroyers are complacent,And those who provoke God are secure, 12:6 Or He who brings God into his hand Whom God brings into their power.
7 ¶“But now ask the beasts, and let them instruct you;And the birds of the sky, and let them tell you.
8 “Or muse to the earth, and let it instruct you;And let the fish of the sea recountitto you.
9 “Who among all these does not knowThat the hand of Yahweh has done this,
10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing,And the breath of all the flesh of man?
11 “Does not the ear test words,As the palate 12:11Lit tastes food for itself tastes its food?
12 “Wisdom is with aged men,With 12:12Lit length of days long life is discernment.Job Speaks of God’s Strength
13 ¶“With Him are wisdom and might;To Him belong counsel and discernment.
14 “Behold, He pulls down, and it cannot be rebuilt;He closes a man in, and it cannot be opened.
15 “Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up;And He sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
16 “With Him are strength and sound wisdom;The misled and the misleader belong to Him.
17 “He makes counselors walk 12:17Or stripped barefootAnd makes fools of judges.
18 “He opens the 12:18Or discipline bond of kingsAnd binds their loins with a belt.
19 “He makes priests walk 12:19Or stripped barefootAnd subverts the enduring ones.
20 “He removes speech from the faithfulAnd takes away thediscerningtaste of the elders.
21 “He pours contempt on noblesAnd loosens the belt of the strong.
22 “He reveals mysteries from the darknessAnd brings out the shadows of death into light.
23 “He makes the nations great, then makes them perish;He 12:23Or spreads out enlarges the nations, then leads them away.
24 “He removes the heartof wisdomfrom the heads of the earth’s peopleAnd makes them wander in a pathless 12:24 Or formlessness waste.
25 “They grope in darkness with no light,And He makes them wander about like a drunken man.