Job 12

²“No doubt, but you are the people,

³But I have understanding as well as you;

⁴I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor,

⁵In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune.

⁶The tents of robbers prosper.

⁷“But ask the animals now, and they will teach you;

⁸Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you.

⁹Who doesn’t know that in all these,

¹⁰in whose hand is the life of every living thing,

¹¹Doesn’t the ear try words,

¹²With aged men is wisdom,

¹³“With God is wisdom and might.

¹⁴Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again.

¹⁵Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up.

¹⁶With him is strength and wisdom.

¹⁷He leads counselors away stripped.

¹⁸He loosens the bond of kings.

¹⁹He leads priests away stripped,

²⁰He removes the speech of those who are trusted,

²¹He pours contempt on princes,

²²He uncovers deep things out of darkness,

²³He increases the nations, and he destroys them.

²⁴He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth,

²⁵They grope in the dark without light.