1 Then Job answered and said:
2 Truly you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!
3 But I have a heart as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these?
4 I am one as a laughingstock to his friends; one who called upon God, and He answered him; the just and whole one is a laughingstock.
5 A lamp is despised in the thoughts of one who is at ease; it is made ready for those whose feet slip.
6 The tents of plunderers prosper, and those who provoke the Mighty God are secure, as God brings into his hand.
7 But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea shall recount to you.
9 Who among all these does not know that the hand of Jehovah has done this,
10 in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all the flesh of mankind?
11 Does not the ear test words and the mouth taste its food?
12 Wisdom is with old men, and with length of days is understanding.
13 With Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding.
14 Behold, He breaks down, and it cannot be rebuilt; He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
15 Behold, He withholds the waters, and they dry up; He sends them out, and they transform the earth.
16 With Him are strength and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are His.
17 He causes counselors to walk away barefoot, and makes fools of the judges.
18 He loosens the bonds of kings, and binds their loins with a waistband.
19 He causes the priests to walk away barefoot, and overthrows the mighty.
20 He removes the lips of the trusted ones, and takes away the discretion of the elders.
21 He pours contempt upon nobles, and drops the girdle off hollow bones.
22 He reveals deep dark mysteries, and brings out the deep darkness into the light of day.
23 He makes nations great, and destroys them; He spreads out nations, and guides them.
24 He takes away the heart of the heads of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a wilderness with no path.
25 They grope in the darkness without light, and He makes them stagger like a drunkard.