| 1 | Then Job answered and said, |
| 2 | No doubt but ye are the people, And wisdom shall die with you. |
| 3 | But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yea, who knoweth not such things as these? |
| 4 | I am as one that is a laughing-stock to his neighbor, I who called upon God, and he answered: The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock. |
| 5 | In the thought of him that is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; It is ready for them whose foot slippeth. |
| 6 | The tents of robbers prosper, And they that provoke God are secure; Into whose hand God bringeth [abundantly]. |
| 7 | But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; And the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee: |
| 8 | Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. |
| 9 | Who knoweth not in all these, That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this, |
| 10 | In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? |
| 11 | Doth not the ear try words, Even as the palate tasteth its food? |
| 12 | With aged men is wisdom, And in length of days understanding. |
| 13 | With [God] is wisdom and might; He hath counsel and understanding. |
| 14 | Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again; He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. |
| 15 | Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth. |
| 16 | With him is strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his. |
| 17 | He leadeth counsellors away stripped, And judges maketh he fools. |
| 18 | He looseth the bond of kings, And he bindeth their loins with a girdle. |
| 19 | He leadeth priests away stripped, And overthroweth the mighty. |
| 20 | He removeth the speech of the trusty, And taketh away the understanding of the elders. |
| 21 | He poureth contempt upon princes, And looseth the belt of the strong. |
| 22 | He uncovereth deep things out of darkness, And bringeth out to light the shadow of death. |
| 23 | He increaseth the nations, and he destroyeth them: He enlargeth the nations, and he leadeth them captive. |
| 24 | He taketh away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, And causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. |
| 25 | They grope in the dark without light; And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man. |