[12:1] Then Job answered and said:
[12:2] “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
[12:3] But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
[12:4] I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called to God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
[12:5] In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.
[12:6] The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.
[12:7] “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
[12:8] or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
[12:9] Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?
[12:10] In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.
[12:11] Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?
[12:12] Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.
[12:13] “With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding.
[12:14] If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open.
[12:15] If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
[12:16] With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.
[12:17] He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools.
[12:18] He looses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
[12:19] He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.
[12:20] He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders.
[12:21] He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.
[12:22] He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light.
[12:23] He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
[12:24] He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste.
[12:25] They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.