| 1 | Then Job answered, |
| 2 | 'No doubt, but you are the people, And wisdom shall die with you. |
| 3 | But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yes, who doesn't know such things as these? |
| 4 | I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke. |
| 5 | In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune, It is ready for them whose foot slips. |
| 6 | The tents of robbers prosper, Those who provoke God are secure; Who carry their God in their hands. |
| 7 | 'But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; The birds of the sky, and they shall tell you. |
| 8 | Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you; The fish of the sea shall declare to you. |
| 9 | Who doesn't know that in all these, The hand of Yahweh has done this, |
| 10 | In whose hand is the life of every living thing, The breath of all mankind? |
| 11 | Doesn't the ear try words, Even as the palate tastes its food? |
| 12 | With aged men is wisdom, In length of days understanding. |
| 13 | 'With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding. |
| 14 | Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again; He imprisons a man, and there can be no release. |
| 15 | Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth. |
| 16 | With him is strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his. |
| 17 | He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools. |
| 18 | He loosens the bond of kings, He binds their loins with a belt. |
| 19 | He leads priests away stripped, And overthrows the mighty. |
| 20 | He removes the speech of those who are trusted, And takes away the understanding of the elders. |
| 21 | He pours contempt on princes, And loosens the belt of the strong. |
| 22 | He uncovers deep things out of darkness, And brings out to light the shadow of death. |
| 23 | He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive. |
| 24 | He takes away understanding from 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. He makes them stagger like a drunken man. |